Neon Genesis Evangelion Season 2
by J.G. The Gamer
Summary: After 3I, the threat is far from over. A new war will soon begin. A war with darkness. SxA STORY ON HOLD FOR OVERHAUL.
1. After the 3rd and more pilots

Disclaimer: I do not own this. As much as I want to own this I don't. I don't own any of the main characters in this either. However I do own or partially own some of the made-up characters in this. If certain people want this removed, just tell me.

CHAPTER I: After the 3rd…

It had all happened so fast. All those images flashing through his mind, the decision whether or not to abort 3rd Impact, to what he was doing now. Shinji Ikari grunted as he carried the injured red-haired girl in his arms. Usually Asuka Langley Sohryu wasn't heavy, but Shinji was exhausted from all that had happened. Up ahead, he saw some tents with the Red Cross symbol. That area, he figured, was a makeshift hospital, to help treat the wounded people who may have been hurt during the days' events.

"Where are we going Shinji?" Asuka mumbled.

"To get you some medical attention." Was the reply from the worn out boy.

A few minutes later the pair reached the hospital. They were given a number (#735) and told to wait until their number was called over the loudspeaker. So they found a place to sit down and wait until they were called.

I can't believe myself sometimes. Did I want to keep living? Or die? Everyone says I should stop running away. Do I do the right thing? I guess I'm still not sure. The only thing I do is focus on what's right in front of me. And that this to make sure Asuka gets treated.

"Shinji? Asuka?"

Shinji wheeled his head around. Asuka woke up from her half-asleep state and looked in the direction of the noise. The voice came from a woman in her 20's with blue hair. It was Misato Katsuragi, their legal guardian.

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh my god, your alive!" She threw her arms around both of them.

Shinji was overjoyed at the fact that Misato was alive too. He thought she was dead for sure. He had assumed everyone who was dead that day had come back.

"Patient #735!" the loudspeaker roared.

One week later

"It's so good to be home." Shinji thought as he paced through the house.

"Hard to believe we're alive." Misato replied. "Around where NERV HQ is, it still looks pretty bad. But we are now gathering what is left of the Rei/Lillith angel."

Asuka was going to be all right. She was to wear an eye patch until her right eye had healed, and her arm, although not broken, was kept in a sling until the soreness went away. She decided to get back in control. "Well Shinji. Why are you standing there? Get us something to eat!"

"Sorry," was the reply from the "Hero". It seemed to be Shinji's natural reaction to anything.

"You don't have to apologize for everything! Just cook something up!" Asuka retorted.

Shinji, as always, cooked up something wonderful. He was curious about what happened to everyone at NERV. "Hey Misato, could you tell us what happened to everyone at NERV?"

Misato was a bit surprised by the question, but would answer. "It turns out everyone at NERV is alright. Even Ritsuko is alive too. I heard your father shot her. But she's alive and well. Even those killed in the gun battle are alive too."

Shinji was relieved, but was still concerned about Gendo and Rei. "How about Father? Ayanami?"

"Well I heard your father survived. But I have not seen Rei anywhere. And I didn't see her name on the casualty list either."

Shinji asked again. "Can't Rei just be replaced?"

"Replaced?" Asuka suddenly interjected.

So Shinji and Misato told Asuka about Rei's origins. And how Rei is also used for the dummy plug systems in the EVAs.

"Great. So Wondergirl was in the dummy plug too. She wants to be everywhere."

Shinji yawned. "I'm going to bed. G'night Asuka. G'night Misato.

The girls wished him goodnight and went off to bed themselves.

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Part 2: Evaluations

At NERV HQ

Ritsuko Akagi pondered to herself. Was she alive? She had to be. But Gendo Ikari shot her. Shinji must have aborted 3rd Impact and brought everyone back who was killed that day. She decided to look over the reports on the EVAs.

Evangelion Unit 00

Reconstruction is nearly complete. Estimated time to completion will be about 10 days. Pilot unavailable.

Evangelion Unit 01

Appears to be stable. Commander Ikari wants it held in cryo-stasis until fully examined, as it was the instrument of 3rd Impact. The commander also has ordered the removal of Unit 01's dummy plug system. Pilot Shinji Ikari is ready when needed. Unit 01 will be active again upon Commander Ikari's orders.

Evangelion Unit 02

Heavily damaged by SEELE's EVA Series. The main body is intact, but will need to be repaired. MAGI says that the body parts of the 18th Angel, named Reilith can be used. Armor pieces will need to be replaced. Pilot Asuka Langley Sohryu will need to be cleared before she can pilot again.

Evangelion Unit 03

Reconstruction is nearly complete. Estimated time is 4 days. Pilot Toji Suzahara has miraculously been medically cleared to pilot. The ability to use his left leg and arm again is said to be because of 3rd Impact.

She sighed again. Only two of four pilots can pilot if SEELE decided to try once more to initiate 3rd Impact. The phone rang. So she answered. "Dr. Akagi's office." A pause while she listens. "Yes." Another pause. "What? That's why you removed Unit 01's dummy plug? But we'll have to make her a new medical chart then!" Ok. A slightly longer pause. "What? We're getting more pilots? More EVAs? From where?" A shorter pause this time. "There? Could you just tell me how many more we are getting and get me their names as soon as possible so I can make them medical charts as well?" A brief pause. "Understood. Over and out." She hung up and sighed.

I thought EVAs were no longer needed. So why is Commander Ikari overseeing the construction of more EVAs and finding more potential pilots? All our 1st-Level candidates are at Shinji and Asuka's school. If we are getting more pilots, then they are likely coming from overseas.

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Commander Ikari's office

Gendo Ikari and Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki were discussing what had happened in the past week.

"So the Third Child chose to avert 3rd Impact and stop humanity's evolution," Gendo pondered out loud.

"We did leave it in his hands though. He is emotionally unstable," the older Commander replied. "Is it possible to initiate a 4th Impact and try again?"

"No it is not," came Gendo's blunt response. "All we can do now is focus on what is front of us. SEELE has disappeared without a trace. Whether they are really gone or not is unknown. The UN has informed me that terrorists all over the world are beginning to rise up at alarming rates. They also claim that these terrorists are possessing technology to that or near equality of the EVA Series."

"Could they try to overthrow us and use Evangelion technology to rule the world?" Fuyutski asked?

"There is that possibility. That is why I plan to acquire more pilots and more EVAs."

"From where?"

"Evangelion Unit 04 has been completed and activated in Russia by the Fifth Child who resides there. The 17th Angel pretended to be the Fifth Child. Unit 05 has also been completed and activated by the Sixth Child."

The Vice-Commander felt a bit more relieved now. "When will we be getting these two pilots?"

"Seven days."

"And their test scores?"

"Exceptional."

"That is good to hear Gendo," Fuyutski said. "By the way, during 3rd Impact, did you see her?"

"Yes."

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1 week later Misato's apartment

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK MY APARTMENT IS? A DAYCARE CENTER? RITSUKO! WHO'S STUPID IDEA WAS THIS ANYWAY!" Misato was shouting into her phone.

"Calm down. You're only getting one of the two pilots," Ritsuko replied. "It was Commander Ikari's idea. The Sixth Child, he will be living at your place as ordered by Commander Ikari."

"Leave it to that idiot to piss you off when you least expect it," Misato sighed. "He? It's a guy? Oh well. Where is he from? Tokyo-3? Nagasaki?

Misato's jaw dropped when she heard Ritsuko's response.

"Toronto, Canada."

"TORONTO! THAT MEANS HE SPEAKS ENGLISH! AM I GONNA HAVE TO TEACH HIM JAPANESE TOO!"

"You need some time off," came the doctor's reply. "He speaks English, and can speak fluent Japanese. He was also trained by the RCMP, Canada's special police, so he'll be very efficient. I'll e-mail you his profile later today, so you, Shinji, and Asuka had better be ready."

Misato had hung up. Ritsuko knew Misato could be calm and cool when an Angel would attack, but in other situations, she was hopeless. In the hopes of passing time, she decided to look at the Fifth Child's profile.

Fifth Child

Name: Ivana Kharlamov

Sex: Female

Age: 14

Nationality: Russian

Hometown: Moscow

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 120lbs

Body Size: B34", W27", H32"

Ivana is a native of Russia. Her family was affiliated with NERV in Russia before the incident. She was discovered as a potential EVA pilot four years before 3rd Impact. It also turns out she could synchronize better than any other potential candidates. Her piloting skills are said to be phenomenal. This is probably because Russians are very attached to their homeland and EVA Unit 09 was built in Russia. Unit 09 was later classified as Unit 04 after the incident. She is said to be quiet and of very few words. Polite to her peers, and will show undying loyalty to her allies. Ivana is trained by the KGB in Russian Commando operations and specializes in Russian Commando martial arts. She is said to be physically very strong and able to best many of her male counterparts. She has a licence to carry a 9mm handgun and is very efficient with it. Ivana can speak fluent Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, French, English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Her I.Q. tests scored her at 250.

That passed some time, she thought. So she decided to look at the Sixth Child's profile.

Sixth Child

Name: Zack Harper

Sex: Male

Age: 14

Nationality: Canadian

Hometown: Toronto

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 180lbs

Body Size: B43", W34", H37"

Zack is a native of Canada. His mother's whereabouts are unknown. He was raised by his father who is the president and CEO of a large company. He was discovered 2 weeks before 3rd Impact. However, political complications made it difficult for NERV to acquire this pilot. Canada, after a while, agreed to allow the transfer of Harper and Unit 05 to Japan. However, because of an accident, or mere stupidity, the EVA program on Unit 05 only functions in English. Zack is said to be very arrogant, rude, and does not follow proper channels when speaking with his superiors. He may act like a goof sometimes, but his piloting skills are said to be nothing to laugh at. He was trained by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). He specializes in a self-taught style of martial arts, which is unknown to most people. Zack also has a licence to carry 9mm handgun. High efficiency with it. His I.Q. score is 149. Zack can only speak fluent English and Japanese.

She sighed again. I'm sure Misato can get used to another member of her artificial family. But how will Shinji and Asuka handle this?

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"WHAT!" came Asuka's outburst. "We already have a fully housebroken male in this apartment (pointing at Shinji). Why the hell do we need another guy? Is he compensating for Kaji?" She was fully healed by this time.

"What did you say?" Misato quickly replied. "Grow up. He's another pilot. Not a new boyfriend."

A voice suddenly said. "Exactly. She's already taken."

Everyone turned to face the voice. It was Kaji Ryouji. In the next few moments everyone forgot about the new pilot as Misato jumped into his arms. Somehow he had come back.

Kaji said "Shinji. I have you to thank for this. During 3rd Impact, I just felt the will to return to this plane of existence. But I must say that where I was, was awesome."

"It's good to have you back Kaji," Shinji replied.

"Yup. I can say without a doubt that you made the right decision."

"If you say so Kaji," was Shinji's monotone reply.

"But that's not the real reason I'm here," declared Kaji. I was ordered by the Commander to bring the Sixth Child. Come on in Zack.

A/N: Zack can speak Japanese and English. So whenever he speaks English, it will be in italics and no one else will be able to understand.

A large boy a bit taller than Toji came in through the door.

"So this where the famous Shinji Ikari lives," the boy replied. He faced Misato, Shinji, and Asuka. "Hi, I'm Zack Harper. The Sixth Child. I'll be living here, so let's try to get along." He faces Shinji. "So are YOU the famous Shinji. Nice to meet you."

"Shinji. Yeah. Nice to meet you too."

He turns to face Misato. "So you are our lovely guardian, Misato Katsuragi. Man, my father would LOVE to meet you."

Misato gave him a death grin. "Would he eh?"

Zack was totally not fazed by her glare and turned his attention to the German.

"And you must be the epitome of sexiness: Asuka Langley Sohryu."

"What the hell did you say?" came her outburst.

"Exactly what I said," came the quick reply from the Canadian.

Asuka got so mad she went to smack him. And unbelievably he managed to step out of the way as if she was moving in slow motion to him. Asuka was even surprised when her slap did not hit home.

"_Damn! Talk about feisty!_"

"Whoa! What did you say?" said a surprised Shinji.

"Oh yeah," replied Zack. "I can speak English too. So you may not understand me all the time."

Misato decided it was time to take control of the situation. "Okay Mr. Casanova, you will be sleeping in Shinji's room. Unfortunately, you will be sleeping on the floor.

"Yeeeessss ma'am!" said Zack with a mock salute and went into Shinji's room to unpack.

Misato turned back to Kaji. "What the hell were you telling him?"

Kaji gave his usual smile. "Absolutely nothing. He said his father taught him everything he knows about women, and I guess he decided to be a bit daring."

"Whatever. Men these days…"

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Shinji went to watch Zack unpack. Zack unexpectedly spoke.

"Man, although you are the hero, you sure don't look or act like it."

Shinji replied, "Yeah I know."

"So how's your girlfriend?"

Shinji was taken aback by this. "Uh it's not like that…"

"I see. She's so vicious, that she's got you scared. I think I can help though."

"With what?"

"If you didn't notice, I'm a ladies man. The girls CANNOT resist me."

"Misato and Asuka resisted you pretty well."

"You can't scam girls on the first try. And since you and the Nazi seemed about the same age, I assumed you two were going out."

Shinji blushed. "Uh… uh…"

"Oh I see. She's so difficult to get close to. You can't even make a move without getting a shot in the pills. I understand. I can help you, if you wish."

"You want to help me?" Shinji asked.

"Sure I'll help you. We're going to be buds now! We gotta watch each others backs. So I'll help you by toughening you up And you can help me by showing be around Tokyo-3, school procedures, and NERV procedures. Deal?" Zack asked offering his hand.

Shinji agreed, figuring that Zack would be on his side.

Shinji noticed Zack taking out a 9mm pistol out of his bag. "WHOA! How did you get that?"

"Oh I got this back in Canada," came Zack's confident reply. "I'm quite an excellent shot if I say so myself."

Shinji had a question for him now. "So Zack, you lived in Canada. What did you do there? What's Canada like?"

Zack looked up for a second, surprised that Shinji was taking an interest in his native country. "Well as much as would love to brag about my past, it's a long story. But the short version is this. I was raised by my father all my life. Somehow even though he was the head of a huge multinational company, he managed to find time to raise me too. But he wanted me to be able to look after myself as well. So he had me start training with the RCMP at age ten. After 2 years, I was the first child officer ever trained. That's also where I got my firearms training. With my status and age, I had to be accompanied by an adult officer. But I can discharge my firearm should someone's life be threatened." He then looked at Shinji. "Too long for you?"

"N-no," the meek boy replied. "Continue."

"Okay. And then I came across NERV about a month ago. They figured someone of my age and efficiency could be great as an EVA pilot. I figured that was great and all, but I had one obstacle. This guy from some air force on the West Coast of Canada. And knowing my luck, this guy was a child soldier, while I was just your average cop."

"If he was more efficient than you, being a soldier, how come you came to Japan instead?"

"I put it this way," he chuckled. "Although we both had excellent sync rates, being in the army is much more dangerous than being in the police force. And with the Canadian military equipment as outdated as it is, he had an accident while on a routine flight and was injured. So I got the call by default." He then looked back at Shinji. "Wow, I did talk more than I expected. Now as for Asuka..."

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NERV HQ

She looked around. This would be her first time in the NERV facility in Japan. This was definitely different from her homeland. Much warmer, she might add. Her new security card allowed her passage until she went into a briefing room. Sitting in a chair behind a desk was an elderly man. She knew right away it was Vice-Commander Fuyutski.

"Ah, Ivana. Glad you could make it."

"Ivana Kharlamov reporting for duty," she said with a salute to the commanders.

Ivana had black hair, a body similar to that of Asuka's, and could give a glare that would send chills down an enemy's spine.

"You are the designated pilot of EVA Unit 04. Your living quarters are in this block of Tokyo-3."

"Understood. Can someone show me how to get there?" Ivana asked.

Gendo enters the room. "I know someone who can show you. Rei?"

A soft voice replies to the call. "Yes." A blue haired girl with red eyes who looked about Ivana's age came into view.

"Ivana's apartment is in your housing block. Show her the way there. You two are dismissed.'

"Yes sir," the girls replied in unison.

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Misato's house… again

Misato called as she was heading out. "I'm going to a bar with Kaji. Be good you three."

Shinji and Asuka said later and went back to what they were doing. Shinji was listening to his SDAT player. Asuka was reading a book. Zack was brooding on the couch. He was pondering about what he planned to do here.

"This will be difficult," he thought to himself. "I gotta toughen that kid up. Nobody deserves to walk with a dark cloud surrounding them wherever they go. Maybe if he had some more confidence. Hmm…"

Asuka was also lost in her thoughts more than her book. "What is up with that guy anyway? He comes in the door and hits on me! And now I gotta live with that guy? Shinji is enough trouble as is! But if it came down to it, one who pretends to be a pervert like Shinji is better than a pervert like Mr. Casanova. What am I thinking? I don't like either of those two!"

Shinji decided to make something for dinner and thought to himself at the same time. "Zack is quite an interesting person. He's a tad arrogant, but he looks like he's a good person. And what did he mean by, toughen me up? Ah, I'll make curry, chicken and rice. It will take some time, but it'll be worth the wait." Now he spoke out loud. "Hey Zack! Asuka! How do feel about curry, chicken and rice."

Asuka was first to reply. "You go right ahead. You have my full support unless you choose to use Misato's instant shit."

Zack called out, "Awesome. Take your time."

Shinji sighed. "Things will be alright after all."

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Now that NERV has 2 new pilots, things are looking up. What new threats will they face? What is Zack up to? Keep reading and find out.


	2. Dounts and Terrorists

A/N: So far, no reviews. But I got 70+ hits so far. That's gotta mean something. I'm gonna keep chugging along here. I've got ideas, and they are not about to go to waste. I also forgot to describe Mr. Zack Harper. He's got brown hair, green eyes, and has a build similar to Toji Suzahara.

Disclaimer: Bla bla. I don't own this series or its characters. But I do own the character Zack Harper and partially own Ivana Kharlamov.

Misato's Apartment at 8:00am.

It starts with a toaster popping freshly toasted bread. Shinji is eating the toast. Asuka is making tea. PenPen is eating fresh fish. And Zack is wondering where there's a coffee maker.

"Hey Shinji. Where's the coffee maker?" asked a somewhat tired Sixth Child.

"No one here drinks coffee," said Asuka.

"Then what does Misato drink in the morning?" Zack shot back.

Shinji sighed, "You'll see".

Just then Misato comes out of her room. Anyone can tell she's having another hangover. She goes to the fridge, takes out a can of beer, drinks down half of it and…

"YYYYEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH! That's the way to start your morning!"

"Oh my god…" said a horrified Zack. "How often does this happen?"

"All the time," Shinji replied. "We've gotten used to this."

Zack was disgusted. "Misato, do you think you're being responsible by getting piss-eyed drunk all the time?"

"And what of it? Don't you like the fact I let you kids have some free time while I have some free time?" retorted Misato.

"Never mind," Zack sighed. "Shinji. Asuka. Do you know where there's a Tim Horton's here in Tokyo-3?"

"That North American coffee shop?" said a surprised Asuka.

"Oh, that place," said Shinji. "We should go check it out sometime."

Zack was already getting his shoes on. "Well there's no time like the present. Let's go! To Tim Horton's!"

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NERV HQ

Ritsuko was overseeing the preparations on EVA Unit 04. It was white, like the EVA Series Units, but had a head similar to that of Unit 00's. Suddenly a technician came over to her.

"Doctor. We have a problem."

"And that problem is," she replied.

"Nobody in the crew can read English. We can't prepare Unit 05 because we don't know what it says."

The false-blonde doctor sighed. She could read some English. But not as well as an average Canadian could. "I'll be right over to see what I can do."

She knew NERV would have to cut their losses on this one. Political issues in Canada almost halted production several times during Unit 05's construction. Unit 05, was green, had a look similar to that ofUnit 01'sbut the head looked more like Unit 03's.They were lucky that Canada's government put world issues ahead of its own issues. On other notes, the kids would all come in for synch tests tomorrow. "Can Asuka manage to reactivate Unit 02?" she wondered. She remembered how Asuka's synch ratio got so low she couldn't even move the giant red behemoth. Then her sudden roar to life on the day of 3rd Impact although she died and came back.

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A Tim Horton's shop in Tokyo-3.

Zack felt good when he saw what felt to him like a piece of home. A Tim Horton's restaurant in Tokyo-3. Without a moment's notice, the four walked right in. They took a seat at a table. Since Zack knew this place best, he told the four what the place was likely to have, and thenasked them what they wanted.

Asuka went first. "BLT."

Shinji went next. "Same here."

Misato was after. "Do they have beer?"

Zack replied in monotone. "No. But they do have coffee."

"Then I'll pass," said Misato.

So Zack went up to the counter. The manager was on the cash today.

"Welcome to Tim Horton's. How can I help you?" Said the manager in Japanese.

"_Do you speak English?_" asked Zack.

"_Wow. I never expected another English speaker here in Japan_," replied the manager.

"_Yeah_," said Zack. "_I come from Canada_. _I got my Tim Horton's mug to prove it_." He takes out a brown 36oz mug with the restaurant's crest on it.

"_Well, it's definitely a genuine mug_," said the manager. "_Just for you and your friends, this one's on the house. What'll it be_?"

"_I'll have this mug refilled. The brown haired boy will have a BLT. The redhead will have a BLT. And a dozen donuts for everyone_."

"_Okay. Coming right up_," said the manager. He turns to the backroom and shouts. "_Hey assholes_! _Did you hear that_! _We have a Canadian here_! _Get off your asses and get their food ready_!

"_Y-yes sir_," came the weak reply from the back room.

"_They're Canadian_," said the manager. "_I hired English speakers only so I could berate them while the Japanese customers are here_. _By the way, is that redhead your girlfriend_?"

"_No, and I mean hell no_," came Zack's reply. "_From what I hear, she's the Devil-Incarnate. And I don't dare go near her without getting my face burned off. I'm a ladies man, so I'm trying to put that spineless wimp together with the devil, and find me another pretty lady_."

"_I see_," said the manager. "_Good luck to you_." Just then the employee came out with the BLTs.

The manager looked at them with disgust. "_You call those BLTs? I could pull shit out of my ass and get the same result_? _Get those things out of my sight and do them right_!"

The employees walked back trying to keep their dignity. The manager then said: "_Don't worry about those idiots. It takes them a few tries sometimes, but eventually they'll get it right_."

Eventually, they got them right, on the third try. They were berated once more, and the manager threatened their jobs at Tim Horton's. Zack got his coffee filled up. (He takes a double double) And he walked back to where his companions were waiting.

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Shinji, Asuka and Misato were dumbfounded at whatever Zack and the manager were talking about. Zack and the manager were speaking in English. The manager, from the looks of had made some outbursts at his employees for what they guessed were jobs not well done. Eventually Zack had gotten their orders, and some donuts, and sat back down.

"Sorry about the wait," said Zack. "Incompetent employees."

Shinji and Asuka began to eat their BLTs. One could judge from the looks on their faces was that they were good. And when they got into the donuts, their faces lit up with delight. Misato decided to speak some more. "Oh Zack, I got you a school uniform. You'll be attending school with Shinji and Asuka tomorrow."

"WHHHHAAAAATTTT? A SCHOOL UNIFORM? PREPPY CLOTHES? FORGET IT! I'D RATHER GO IN MY UNDERWEAR!"

"Well, as I always say: When in Rome, do as the Romans do," came Misato's smirked reply.

"Sigh."

Misato spoke once more. "Shinji. Asuka. I'll be counting on you two to show him around."

"Let Shinji do that," retorted Asuka. "He doesn't do anything anyways."

"Whatever," Shinji said. "By the way, aren't we supposed to go in sync tests?"

"Yup. Let's go."

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NERV

The 4 made it to the base. So they went inside. When they went in, two females were waiting for them. Shinji looked in shock. It was Rei Ayanami. And another black haired girl about their age.

Shinji was still surprised. "Rei. Is that you?"

The blue haired girl turned to look at him. Her face showed no emotion. "Yes, I am Rei. You are Shinji Ikari."

Shinji didn't know what to say next. He knew all of the dummy Reis were destroyed and the last one was the one that merged with Lillith to form the super angel Reilith. This Rei was likely the fourth one made. "But where were they able to make another one?" he thought to himself.

No one really noticed, but Asuka did not like the fact that Shinji was looking at/speaking to Rei.

Zack decided to hit on these two apparentlylovely women. First he approached Rei. "My, my, my. Your beautiful red eyes glow with a fire that radiates beauty!"

Apparently, the compliment must have shot right over her head according to Zack, because she did not change her expression at all. "_Bummer_," he thought. Surprised, but not discouraged, he went up to the black-haired girl. "Hello and what might your name be?"

"Ivana Kharlamov," came her monotone reply.

"I'm Zack Harper," he seductively says while walking towards her. "I bet we could…"

He was suddenly interrupted by Ivana grabbing his arm, flipping him over her shoulder and landing him flat on his back.

"_Oww_._ Shit_," came Zack's mumbled response.

"Don't do that," came another monotone reply from Ivana.

"Casanova is dowwwwwnnnnnn!" chanted a celebrating Asuka. "Wow Ivana, you got quite the power and quite the accent. Are you also from Germany?"

"Russia," replied Ivana.

"RUSSIA? Grrrrr." Asuka stormed off deeper into the NERV base. Everyone knew about World War II in the 1940's. Germany at one point tried to invade Russia, but Russia managed to stop them and push them back into Germany and defeat them. A black spot in Asuka's German heritage. And a gold spot in Ivana's Russian heritage.

After getting Zack to his feet, the rest of them walked into the base.

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NERV HQ- In the Sync Test Room.

Ritsuko glanced over the computer that produced the results. First came Rei Ayanami's test results. As always, they showed a good score of 75. Next came Asuka's. Her sync scores rose to 22. Good enough to make the EVA move, but decided she wasn't cleared for battle yet. Before 3rd Impact, her depression dropped her sync levels to zero. After her was Shinji's results. Despite the hell his life had been, he could maintain a score of 84.

"So how's everyone doing?" asked Misato who suddenly came in.

"Well, Rei and Shinji are doing good," said Ritsuko. And good news for Asuka. Her sync ratio has gone back up. But until she gets past 30, she's not cleared to pilot because of fears it may drop again.

"And Shinji?"

Shinji sync scores could dumbfound anyone, including Ritsuko "I don't know how he does it, but he's maintaining an 84."

"Impressive," thought Misato. "And the others?"

"Toji is still very nervous. His scores are 38. Ivana is doing very well. She's at 68. And Casanova AKA Zack has a 71."

"So we have four ready to go. One not so sure about. And one not cleared."

"Yes," said the doctor. Suddenly she looked surprised. "What's this? Zack's sync ratio has dropped to zero!"

"What?" Misato turned on the comlink. "Zack? Are you okay? What's going on?"

Over the comlink, everyone in the room could hear an odd sound. The sound of snoring! Misato brought up the visual of Unit 05's entry plug on screen. What she saw shocked her and then angered her. The reason Zack's sync ratio dropped to zero was because he was sound asleep! The next noise that was heard was deafening.

"ZACK HARPER! WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"

Zack was startled by the sound. "_What the fuck_!_ Daddy_! _Keep it down_! _I wanna sleep_! Oh it's you Misato."

"Zack sync ratio has climbed back up to 71," reported a technician on Ritsuko's crew.

"Zack don't you ever fall asleep during a sync test again," said a very angered Misato.

"Yyyeessss ma'am," replied Zack with a mock salute.

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Boy's changeroom

Toji Suzahara had never though he'd end up back here. He had lost his leg when the 13th Angel possessed his EVA Unit and Gendo forced Shinji to destroy his EVA to destroy the Angel. But somehow, during 3rd Impact, he had gotten it back. Hikari Horaki, the class president at school was sure happy he was back in top form. He wasn't sure yet, but he suspected the class rep had something of a crush on him. He wouldn't tell his best friend Kensuke Aida or Shinji either. They would bug him till the Angels came back. Then there was that Zack guy who moved into Shinji's apartment. And that Russian chick who managed to take out someone as big as he was. He did not have time to worry about that. School was tomorrow and they had to be ready.

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Misato's apartment

Asuka was hustling Shinji to hurry up so they wouldn't be late. "Hurry up you idiot! We're gonna be late again!"

Shinji had just finished their lunches. Zack was relatively quiet this morning. The two assumed it was the school uniform he was wearing. He had said something about not wearing one when he was back in Canada.

Eventually the trio made it to the school. And entered the classroom. When the teacher came in, the class rep made everyone rise, bow, and sit back down. Then the teacher got into his mega-boring lectures on 2nd Impact.

Asuka knew it was same-old, same-old. She had heard these lectures so many times, she could recite the lectures by heart. Suddenly, someone was sending her an instant message. It was Hikari.

A/N: I know script format is not recommended. But it's only for conversations over the computers the students use.

Hikari: Hey Asuka. How's the new guy?

Asuka: Oh, Casanova? He's nothing to get excited about. Just another pervert.

Hikari: Is he an EVA pilot?

Asuka: Unfortunately, yes he is. But once I'm cleared to pilot again, I'll show him who's the best EVA pilot of them all! ME!

Hikari: It's good to see you're doing better. How's Shinji?

Asuka: That spineless wimp is doing fine for one with no balls.

Hikari: Are you sure you won't reconsider going out with him?

Asuka: That guy's head is as thick as lead too. And we do nothing but fight when he suddenlygets balls!

Hikari: They say when two people fight, they really care about each other.

Asuka: WHAT?

Just then, the bell had gone. It was time for the morning recess.

Out on the basketball court, Zack and Toji were making quick work of their opponents in a two-on-two game.

"And you LOSE!" said Zack in a booming and obnoxious voice.

The boy Zack was talking to became enraged. He was the best in the school until this Canadian guy came along. "I'll show you," he yelled with his fists clenched.

Shinji, Kensuke, Asuka, Ivana (Also a new student) and Hikari could only watch in awe. They watched as Zack seemed to step effortlessly around the boy's punches. This carried on for about 15 seconds and about 25 punches until Zack stepped behind him and knocked him out with a quick karate chop to the back of his head, rendering the angry boy unconscious.

"Sheer poetry in motion," said Zack.

Later in the cafeteria at lunchtime, Zack's performance on the court, and with a few skills he learned from his father, had all the ladies except Asuka, Hikari,Ivana, and Reisurrounding him.

"You are so cool!"

"So strong!"

"Come live with me instead!"

"No he's coming with me!"

"Settle down my beauties. There is more than enough Zack to go around," said Zack easing the tensions of the women fighting for his affections.

"Man people like him get all the luck," sulked Toji as he ate his lunch with Shinji and Kensuke.

"Why are you complaining?" replied Kensuke. "Why don't you go ask Hikari out?"

"Uh, uh, maybe later," said a blushing Toji.

"Hahahaha! Toji's embarrassed," chuckled Kensuke.

Shinji began laughing too. Then Toji glared at Shinji. "What about you? Don't you have a wife already?"

Then Kensuke and Toji began laughing at Shinji. Shinji's face only got redder as the stooges chanted: "Shinji and Asuka sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love! Then comes marriage! Then comes Shinji pushing a baby carriage!"

Next Toji suddenly got hit by Hikari's schoolbag, and then Asuka leveled Kensuke with her fists.

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So the three began walking home after school. Zack decided it was time to make another obnoxious comment. "Wow Shinji. I never expected you and Asuka were married," said Zack.

"What do you mean by that?" shouted Asuka.

Zack replied. "Exactly what it sounds like. Everyone's saying you two are newlyweds. So I'll take this time to say congratulations!"

Asuka and Shinji both blushed at the comment. "SHUT UP!" said Asuka and Shinji in unison.

Suddenly, a large siren began blaring over all of Tokyo. "All civilians must evacuate to the shelters immediately," a loudspeaker shouted.

"What the hell was that?" Zack asked.

"Emergency," Shinji replied. "We gotta go to NERV now!"

"Roger!"

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NERV HQ-Battle Station

Maya, one of Ritsuko's staff, made the first report. "I don't know what that thing is. It looks like a tank with half a body coming out of it. It's sitting on the outskirts of Tokyo-3."

Hyuga made the next report. "AT Field detected. But there's no Blue Wave Pattern. So it can't be an Angel. Could it be someone else's version of an EVA."

"Or just a robot that can project an artificial AT Field?" pondered Ritsuko. "The MAGI haven't made any confirmations on what that thing isyet."

"Go to First Stage Alert," replied Commander Ikari who was sitting in a seat and table up above the others. Gendo then picked up a phone. "Are the pilots ready Major Katsuragi? Good. Launch Units 00, 03, 04, and 05. Keep Units 01 and 02 on standby."

Fuyutski interjected at this moment. "Do you think these are terrorists?"

Gendo replied. "Absolutely. And without a doubt, on SEELE's payroll."

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NERV- EVA launching bay

Misato was giving the battle plans to the pilots. "Okay. We're not sure what that thing is, but we can't be too careful."

Shinji asked a question. "Is it the an Angel."

"No," said Misato. "From the looks of it, someone put together EVA-like technology and means to destroy us. Rei, Toji, Ivana and Zack. You four will pilot you're respective EVAs. And wait for further notice. Shinji, your EVA will kept in cryo-stasis. You will only be launched if we have to go to Third Stage Alert. Asuka, you haven't been cleared to pilot yet. You will only be launched in the same situation. Did you all get that?"

"Yes ma'am," they all said.

In the next few minutes, all the pilots were in their respective EVAs.

Misato shouted, "EVAS, LAUNCH!"

With that, Evangelion Units 00, 03, 04, 05 launched, beginning the start of a new battle against a new enemy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tim Horton's either. But hell it rocks! If you see a Timmy's in your area, you owe it to yourself to go in and get a coffee or a donut!

A/N: And soon the battle will begin next chapter! R&R! I think I'm the first to have a new pilot come from Canada! If not tell me.


	3. Shopping and Hunting

A/N: One reviewer said this was unrealistic but good. My reply to that is that I remember someone in the movie saying everyone will come back. So heck, I made everyone come back. I was originally gonna include a girl named Mana from Second Impression because I though at first it was a sequel. But two things stopped me. 1) Second Impression was an AU. 2) Mana was nothing more than another "snake in the grass".

And since I got reviews, I'll reveal one pairing: MisatoxKaji! You readers are on your own with any other pairings!

Another said something about Asuka, Ivana and WWII. My reason? Asuka's a bitch and is very good at finding ways not to like people. I never thought of Aryan issues. I purposely chose not to go into it that far. I'll say for the record that I believe Germans are not to blame for WWII. The one to blame is the leader at that time, whose name is NOT worth mentioning. Now on with the story.

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Ivana was to some extent, glad that she would be going into combat. Her success here on the battlefield would bring great fame to her homeland. Russia with a good reputation, one thing she's always wanted. She then quickly told herself that she must concentrate on the battle.

Toji was somewhat freaked out. And he knew that was contributing to his dismal sync ratio. If only it was Kensuke and not him. But then again, the fact that his sister was getting better medical attention made him feel better.

Zack was all fired up. Finally, he would see a piece of the real action. He was ready to show why he was the greatest thing that ever happened to Canada, or rather the world.

Rei decided that the best way to attack this strange enemy was to have everyone surround it. And she told her comrades to do so. Misato's voice came on the line. "Okay everyone. We've got some new weapons for you to use. Although you can hold progressive knives in your shoulder packs, we can provide you with progressive swords for greater efficiency. And we also have large sledgehammers too. Okay everyone, choose a weapon and surround it."

Zack chose the progressive sword. Ivana went with two progressive knives. Rei chose a positron rifle. And Toji chose a bazooka.

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NERV HQ- Battle Station

"Someone's trying to contact us. Should we put the call through?" asked Ritsuko.

"Put them on," came Gendo's monotone reply.

Suddenly, a visual of a cockpit appeared. The pilot appeared to be of Middle Eastern origins. "Ahh, Gendo Ikari. So good to see you. I have one offer. Your immediate surrender and I will spare your EVA pilots and your personnel and the city."

"EVA pilots, destroy the target," came Gendo's reply.

"Very well, than I shall kill you all," the enemy pilot declared, cutting off communications.

Suddenly, two more arms appeared out of the target, making a total of four arms. And each of those arms carried a sword.

"_Shit_. Does he have enough swords?" said Zack.

Ivana inched closer. "We must destroy it."

Toji came on the com next. "ATTACK!"

Unit 03 launched rounds of missiles at the target. The target used its two upper hands and spun the swords like two lethal propeller blades. The result was the missiles being cut into pieces. Zack and Unit 05 attacked next. But after a few parries, he quickly realized four swords were quickly better than one. More attacks from the EVA pilots proved futile, as they couldn't get close without getting sliced.

"Crap. We aren't getting anywhere," said a frustrated Zack. "We get to close and we get chopped like firewood!"

"It must have a weakness. All things have a weakness," said Rei.

"Well, I don't see it," said an exhausted and wounded Toji. Toji's somewhat reckless style had gotten him in too close a few times and he took some hits.

"There. I see its weakness," said Ivana with some confidence in her voice.

"What? Where? I don't see it!" shouted Zack over the com.

"The best way to destroy will be to have an EVA jump over its head and its swords and fire positron rounds," said Ivana. "Zach, Rei, and Toji. You three will distract it while I jump over its head and fire. That should destroy it."

"And if that doesn't work?" asked a nervous Toji.

"It will be distracted by the Fifth Child's maneuver," said Rei. "Our chances of landing a hit in this instance will increase substantially."

"Heck, I'm all for it," declared Zack. "If it'll win this battle let's do it! EVAS! ROLL OUT!"

All four EVAs rushed the tank again. It began to spin its upper blades again. Units 00, 03 and 05 got as close as they dared, without getting sliced by the furious assaults of the tank. Unit 04 equipped another positron rifle and also began to rush the tank. Unlike the others, it leapt into the air. Over the blades… over the tank, until it was in the air looking at the top of the head of the enemy target. Without another moment's notice she fired a volley of shots into the head. The shots definitely hit home. The head was blown off. The whole machine seemed to shut down. Two seconds later, it suddenly exploded!

"BOOYA!" shouted Toji at the wreck.

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NERV HQ

"The target has been destroyed," said Maya looking at what the computers were telling her.

"Oh well. I guess we'll never know who sent that thing," said Misato with a sigh.

"Not bad for rookies," said Ritsuko. "I'd like to see what they could have done against an Angel."

"Those Angels are behind us now," said Misato. "Commander Ikari may be an asshole and WE ALL KNOW IT, but he's right about putting the past behind us and keep moving forward. I wonder what crazy thing will happen next."

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The ensuing Friday night. Misato's apartment.

"WHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTTT!" came a loud cry from Misato's apartment. It was Asuka, having another outburst. "Why does Wondergirl have to live HERE?"

"Asuka, I already told you, Rei's apartment complex burned down because of bad electrical maintenance," said Misato. "And she'll be sharing your room. Commander Ikari's orders."

Asuka may as well have died. "What? Why me? Why does she have to move into my room?"

Misato knew she had the upper hand and intended to keep it. "Or I can move Zack out of Shinji's room and onto the couch and you and Shinji can share a room." Asuka's jaw dropped when she knew the coming ultimatum. "Take it or leave it Asuka. Share with Rei, or move in with Shinji."

Asuka had no intention of sharing a room with a boy. So by the lesser of two evils, she would choose to share a room with Rei.

Rei Ayanami did come over. She did not have a lot of luggage on her. She quietly went into Asuka's room to unpack.

Zack shrugged. "Looks like Shinji and I are outnumbered 3-2. And there's no point in hitting on Rei because everything you say goes over her head and into space."

Suddenly, Misato went to go speak to Zack. "Hey Zack, do you mind finding something for you and Shinji to do this weekend?"

"No prob ma'am," said Zack. "I was already thinking about taking Shinji and Toji over to Muskrat Lodge to do some hunting."

"That's great, because I want to take Asuka and Rei shopping," said an excited Misato. "Asuka loves shopping and Rei needs more clothes than just her school uniform. While you guys can have what you guys call… male bonding. You know what you gotta do with Shinji anyways."

"No problemo. I'll see if I can make him a tougher person when this weekend is over," declared Zack. "No guarantees though."

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TOKYO-3 CENTER- Inside the Wal-Mart

A/N: Heck, superstores like to expand. So why not Japan? And oh yeah, just to disclaim, I don't own Wal-Mart either. I won't go into details of what happened because it's pointless. I'll give you readers the right to use your imagination on what they may do while in there. (Greedy money laundering pigs…)

Misato and Asuka are having fun shopping. Rei was a bit of a downer though. Instead of finding something nice or popular to wear, she would choose the first thing that would fit her. But with some help from Misato, Rei had some nice clothes to wear too. Asuka went wild, buying many different types of clothes.

"That was fun," said Asuka. "Hey Misato, how did you come up with the money for all this anyway?"

"I didn't," Misato replied with a wink. "The NERV budget paid for this."

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NERV- Commander Ikari's room

"We never should have let the staff have access to the budget," said Vice-Commander Fuyutski.

"True," said Commander Ikari.

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Muskrat Lodge- Somewhere south of Tokyo-3 in a forested area.

Shinji, Zack, and Toji were preparing for their hunting trip. They had rented 30-30 caliber rifles to hunt with and wore camouflaged clothing as well. They also rented one of the bunkrooms for the night.

"Remember, take aim, and fire. It's like being in the EVAs with guns," said Zack. "Also, make sure you make your shots count. We get paid for whatever kind of meat we can salvage off the animals we shoot."

"S-shoot?" asked a surprised Shinji.

"Yup," said Toji. "And whatever money we get, we'll split 3 ways. By the way Zack, how did you pay for all this?"

"Well, the Japanese currency sucks compared to the Canadian currency. So when I made the conversion, I was rich. And if necessary, my father can wire-transfer any extra money I may need just in case," said Zack. "Let the hunt begin!"

The trio went into the forest. Zack shot 3 deer with relative ease. Toji shot 1 and missed 2. Now Shinji was getting his turn. There was one just sitting there.

"Just take aim and fire," said Zack. Shinji was a but hesitant, but determined not to let the others down.

"C'mon Shinji," said Toji. "Imagine that's an Angel, and it wants to us and everything we love."

The images of those he knew flashed through his mind. Misato. Pen-Pen. Zack. Ivana. Hikari. Toji. Kensuke. Rei. Father. Mother. Asuka. Then the image of Reilith appeared in his mind…

BANG! Everyone looked up. Shinji had shot the deer clean in the eye. It was an excellent shot and it didn't stand a chance.

"Man. I doubt that thing's AT field didn't stand a chance," said Zack. "You did it Shinji. Good stuff."

Shinji was glad to hear some praise. He was able to get 3 more (and with somewhat relative ease and confidence) before they decided to turn in their haul for some money.

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TOKYO-3 Center

The girl trio was wondering where they should go next. Before they could make their decision, they suddenly saw an odd stand. So out of blunt curiosity they went to check it out. What they found shocked them. It was Makoto and Shigeru, and Maya, Ritsuko's employees!

"What exactly are you three doing here?" asked the Major.

"Uh Major Katsuragi," started Makoto. "We aren't getting paid enough at NERV. And since unionizing against Commander Ikari is just stupid and pointless, we've decided to find other ways to make ends meet."

"Yeah, so won't you buy a plush doll?" asked Shigeru holding an object in his hand. Misato looked at the object in horror. It was an 8-inch high plush doll of herself. She looked around the stand. There were plush dolls of herself, Maya, Shigeru, Makoto, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei in their plugsuits. Asuka was so embarrassed. Her doll had a big grin on her face and it appeared to be pumping its fist in the air. Even Rei was slightly surprised. But the teens decided to sit down on a nearby bench while Misato looked at the dolls. It turned out Maya had made the dolls, Makoto made the stand, and was the accountant, and Shigeru was the salesman. Asuka overheard Misato say she would buy two dolls. The dolls were put into boxes that looked like the computers SEELE would talk out of whenever they had meetings with Gendo Ikari. Unfortunately, someone passed in front of her and she never saw what dolls Misato bought. Then she was writing something down on a piece of paper and gave it back to Shigeru. Then Misato came back to Asuka and Rei.

"What dolls did you buy?" asked Asuka.

"That's a surprise for when you get home," replied Misato.

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Muskrat Lodge- 12:30am, Saturday.

The trio scored quite the cash. 65,000 yen! (About $650 US) They also got a room with 2 bunk beds. Toji slept on the top bunk, with Zack on the bottom. Shinji takes the bunk bed across from Zack. Toji had already fallen asleep leaving Zack and Shinji awake.

"Hey Shinji, nice job with the deer," said Zack. "I'd hate to face you in an EVA with you shooting like that."

"It was nothing really."

"But when you overcame the fear barrier, your confidence improved," said Zack. "You shot those deer like you thought they were gonna trigger 4th Impact."

"Yeah, I guess so," said Shinji.

"If you take that confidence that you showed out in the forest and applied to your everyday life, people will be surprised at your change, and they will admire your courage and confidence," said Zack.

"Yeah," said Shinji with a wee tone of confidence in hi voice.

"Easy now. Let's get some sleep."

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That night, the girls made it home after a long day. After shopping, they went out to eat at a restaurant known as "Only the Best". Asuka wanted to eat at a restaurant called the Sirloin Saloon, a restaurant that specialized in meat-based products. But Misato said no because Rei was a vegetarian. So NERV had covered their shopping spree, the plush dolls, the dinner, the gas, and Misato's speeding ticket.

"So Misato, what plush doll did you get?"

"Okay, since we are home I'll tell you. This one is for you anyway."

Asuka eyes glowed when she knew she was getting something.

"Close your eyes," said Misato. Asuka did as she was told. "Hold out your hands." She obeyed once more.

Asuka then felt something in her hands, which she obviously knew was the plush doll. She opened her eyes and looked upon the doll with shock in her eyes. It was a plush doll of Shinji Ikari!

SNAP! Misato had decided to take a picture when she knew Asuka would have a shocked look on her face. "Like it?" Misato asked. "Now you can snuggle with a Shinji at night too!"

"YOU THINK I LIKE THAT PERVERT? GUESS AGAIN!" shouted Asuka. "The thought of him in bed with me is more horrifying than any Angel we've come up against!"

She stormed into her room and shut the door behind her. She then realized she had the doll in her hands still. She placed it upon her dresser. It looked like Shinji alright. The plain face, the brown hair, the plugsuit. She decided to retire for the night. She changed into some nightclothes (No peeking from the readers please! We don't want an angry redheaded psycho on our hands now!) And went to sleep on her futon.

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Outside Asuka and Rei's room

"Why does the Second Child show such ill feelings of pilot Ikari?" Rei asked.

"Oh it's nothing to worry about," replied Misato. "That's just her defense mechanism when it comes to dealing with Shinji, that's all. I'm going to bed. You should too Rei. Goodnight." She went off to her room.

"Goodnight Major Katsuragi," said Rei in her seemingly permanent monotone voice.

Rei entered her and Asuka's room. She was already fast asleep. She changed into a pair of the nightclothes Misato bought for her that day. And went to sleep on her futon with her last thoughts being of wonder about the Second Child's thoughts towards the Third Child.

Rei was woken up in the middle of the night by a sound. She looked around. Asuka was apparently up and moving. Rei watched as Asuka walked over to her dresser in complete silence. She watched as Asuka apparently picked up something off the dresser, walked back to her futon and went to sleep with the object in her arms.

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Saturday morning. Misato's house

"Dammit Misato! Why'd you have to let Shinji go on some stupid hunt?" said Asuka. She liked it whenever Shinji would cook, because he could make anything taste good. Letting Misato cook could result in a date with death.

"Don't worry Asuka. I didn't cook this morning," said Misato opening up her second can of beer. Her first beer relieved her of her hangover.

"Then who is cooking?" shouted Asuka.

Misato turned her head into the kitchen. "Rei, is it finished yet?"

"No ma'am," came the soft reply from the kitchen.

"WHHHAAAAATTTT? Wondergirl is cooking? Where is that spineless idiot when you need him? _Schiest_!"

So the girls sat down to some pancakes. Asuka thought they were very bland. She liked how Shinji could throw his own twists on any kind of food and it would taste good. Her cooking wasn't very either, but it was better than Misato's. Which by default made Rei's edible for eating.

Rei came with a question out of nowhere. "Asuka. What were you doing last night?"

Asuka was surprised at the question. "What do you mean last night Wondergirl?"

"I saw you get up. You went to your dresser. You then proceeded to take an object off your dresser. And then you went back to sleep with it in your arms. And this morning I saw you sleeping with the doll Misato bought you in your arms," Rei replied.

Asuka's face probably went as red if not redder than her red plugsuit. She then ran into her room, totally embarrassed.

Misato was laughing. "The subconscious never lies!"

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"Well, we're home!" Zack said. Zack, Shinji, and Toji did some more hunting on Saturday, and were now coming home that Sunday night. In total, they had scored 110,000 yen (equal to $1,100 US). After dropping Toji off at his home, the Third and Sixth Child returned home.

When they got in the door, they noticed the girls were watching TV and were surprised to the male occupants returning home.

"Ah, you're home," said Misato. "How much money did you guys earn?"

"110,000 yen. Splitting it 3 ways, we each got 36,666 yen" said Zack. "Shinji has quite the shot here. The other hunters were afraid to piss him off because his aim was so good."

"We had lots of fun," said Shinji with some enthusiasm in his voice.

"While you guys were pretending to be hicks in the country, we got to go on a huge shopping spree, and all expense paid dinner paid for by NERV," boasted Asuka.

"Oh yeah," said Misato suddenly. "Shinji. I got something for you. Now close your eyes." Shinji closed his eyes. She had another SEELE box. She also moved Shinji into a corner of the room so the others couldn't see what was in the box. She then said just like with Asuka, "Now hold out your hands."

Shinji did as he was told. He then felt something soft and fluffy in his hands. He assumed it was probably a stuffed animal. He opened his eyes, and almost screamed. It was an Asuka Langley Sohryu plush doll! (It's genuine!)

"Like it?" asked Misato.

"Y-y-yeah. Thanks," said a stuttering Shinji.

Asuka's blush came back as it did before. "Shinji, if I catch you doing weird things to that doll, I will bring 4th Impact down on your head and 5th Impact on your groin! You hear me?"

"Of course Your Highness," said Shinji with some false boredom in his voice.

Asuka was surprised to see Shinji talk back to her. She couldn't think of anything else to say and stormed off to her room.

"Wow, it's working," thought Shinji.

"Well, I think we should all retire for the night," said Zack. "School is tomorrow."

So they all went to bed. Shinji placed his Asuka doll on the dresser and went to sleep shortly thereafter. Zack was reading a magazine and called it in after about 15 minutes of reading.

Misato decided she would have another beer before heading to bed. After the first beer, she decided to have another. And another.

Rei once again noticed Asuka in the middle of the night get up and retrieve the doll off her dresser and went to sleep with it again.

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A/N: Now wasn't that all fun? There will be some more laughs in the next chapter! What happens when Misato decides to go out drinking (AGAIN!) and leaves the kids all alone? I can't spill out everything at once, because that is just dumb! R&R people. I appreciate the reviews so far! Be cool!


	4. Truth or Dare! Virtual Kombat!

A/N: First off, someone said I should kill off Gendo. Well every story usually isn't that good without an asshole. And one Gendo Ikari fits the bill of "asshole" perfectly. Well, almost perfectly. Warning, some pretty mature content and some bad language in this chapter. You have been warned.

The rest of the school week seemed to be the same as usual. Asuka, socializing with Hikari. She used to be the most popular girl, but after the way she acted around all the guys, her popularity vanished as fast as it had came. The Three Stooges were hanging out, talking about either war vehicles, NERV, or Hikari and Asuka. Rei who would plain do nothing unless instructed to. Zack was usually showing off athletic skills or hanging with the girls. Ivana would only concentrate on her studies. On the Friday were synch tests.

Rei Ayanami: 75

Asuka Langley Sohryu: 32 (Cleared to pilot)

Shinji Ikari: 86 (Unit no longer in cryo-stasis)

Toji Suzahara: 39

Ivana Kharlamov: 71

Zack Harper: 71

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NERV Cafeteria

Rei was sitting in the cafeteria, eating a sandwich. This was when Zack decided to use this chance to learn more about the pale-skinned blue-haired child. So he sat down at the same table.

"Hey Ayanami, got a question for you," said Zack. "Why do you always do exactly what everyone tells you to do?"

"I do as I am told Sixth Child," replied Rei.

"Well don't you have any opinions on the tasks you are told to do?"

"Why would I have opinions?" asked Rei.

"Because that's part of being human," replied Zack. "As humans, we all have the God-given right to make a choice in what we do. If you do not like the situation you may be in, speak up. Nobody has to spend their whole life being bossed around by a loser with a beard, glasses, and has no respect for their son who does his dirty work for him."

Rei looked at him, slowly absorbing the information. "I can make my own choices?"

"Yes exactly. You can speak to whomever, eat whatever, and go wherever. And you don't have to take crap from Asuka either. You can choose to not even listen to what I'm saying."

A smile slowly crept onto the girl's face. "Thank you Sixth Child. I will consider what you have said, and find a way to incorporate it into my life."

A smile was on Zack's face too. "Well, I'll go get Shinji and Asuka, and the four of us will go home together."

"Yes. I would like that."

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Ivana's new apartment complex

Ivana was in the lobby of her new apartment complex after the one she and Rei was in burned down. She didn't like to admit it, but she was somewhat jealous that Rei got to move in with Misato. She also wondered what it would be like living at Misato's house. Those kids, although they would be at odds with each other, they looked like a family almost. She had only been in her new apartment for a week, and it was already getting kind of lonely. She was lucky her neighbours could be somewhat violent when drunk. It would give her something to do when one of her neighbours would be deranged enough to attack her, as she could easily make quick work of them. Best to stay in shape she would say to herself. She looked down the hall. 2 drunks were coming through. And they looked bloodthirsty too. In seemingly desperate need of having their way with a woman, they had Ivana locked in their sights.

"Perfect," she said as she cracked her knuckles and got ready if one of them attacked.

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Misato's apartment

"Okay kids, I'm going out to a bar with Kaji. Here's some money to order pizza with. Be good now," said Misato.

"Great," said Asuka. "Misato's leaving me with Wondergirl, Casanova, and that spineless wimp."

So the evening went by uneventfully. Pizza was good however. Shinji was listening to his SDAT player. Rei was reading a book. Asuka was in her room. Now the Shinji doll had found its way from the dresser to the top of her bed. Zack was playing some sort of handheld video game.

The phone rang. It was Misato. She said she wouldn't be in till late, so the kids didn't need to bother waiting up for her.

Suddenly, Zack got an idea. "Hey everyone. I know what we can do. Why don't we play a game?"

"What game?" Shinji asked.

"Truth or Dare!"

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Ivana's apartment complex

It wasn't even a fight. The first guy asked if she could have an all out sex-session with him. She politely declined. But they wouldn't take no for an answer. So they decided to rape her instead.

"I will only warn you once. Don't even try," said Ivana in a monotone voice.

"Screw you bitch!" said one of the drunks. "You're mine!"

Ivana smiled as she saw the deranged man come at him.

He threw a punch at the Russian. She quickly backpedaled and ducked the punch. She then countered with 10 devastating punches to his stomach in 3 seconds. The man quickly doubled over in pain, and then fell unconscious from the pain.

The other drunk got angry then. "Akira! You little bitch! I'll gonna mess you up until there's nothing left of you!"

She smiled an innocent smile at him too.

The second man also threw a punch. He was slow and because he was drunk, his equilibrium wasn't perfect either. Which made it all easier for Ivana. She dodged the punch, was able to sidestep around him, and knocked him out cold with a kick to the back of his head.

"I warned them," said Ivana to herself as she decided to return to her apartment, leaving two unconscious men in the lobby. She was somewhat disappointed. She would prefer if her opponents were not drunk, so if they attacked her, it would be more challenging for her.

A/N: The reason I put this in, was for one to include Ivana, two to show how deadly she can be in combat. (She was holding back too) The reason for the language is because this was an honest guess at how a sex-obsessed drunk may act. Now back to the story!

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Misato's apartment

"And that's how you play Truth or Dare." Zack was explaining how to play Truth or Dare to Rei who had never heard of the game before. Shinji was reluctant to play at first, but didn't want to be alone while everyone else had fun. Asuka was a similar case. "So Rei, do you want to play?"

"Yes, I will take part in this activity," came Rei's usual monotone reply.

"Okay. Here are the boundaries," said Zack. "When it comes to truth, let it all hang out. When it comes to dares, there is to be no sex, groping, gay or lesbian acts either. And nothing violent either. We don't want anyone to end up in the hospital. Anything else is fair game. Also, you cannot ask the same person who just asked you a question. So let's begin. Rei, since it's your first time, you may start."

"Understood," said Rei. "Pilot Sohryu. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Asuka said. She did not "dare" touch the waters of the Dare.

"Why do you sleep with the doll that resembles Pilot Ikari?"

"WHAT?" came another Asuka outburst. "Oh fine. I was cold. That's all."

"Whatever," muttered Zack under his breath.

"Now it's my turn," said Asuka with a grin on her face. "Shinji. Truth or Dare?"

"T-Truth," said a stuttering Shinji.

"Do you have a crush on a girl?" said Asuka in a very teasing tone.

Shinji was a loss for words. "Answer the question Shinji," said Zack. "You don't have to give a direct answer."

Shinji resigned himself to an answer. "Yes."

Asuka's grin grew even bigger. "You can't hide anything from me Shinji Ikari." Wait till I find out which girl it is. Then you will never hear the end of it."

"Whatever," retorted Shinji. "Zack. Truth or Dare."

"Dare," said Zack in a determined voice.

"Uhh let's see. How about prank calling Misato?"

Zack didn't hesitate to dial Misato's cell phone. The others listened. Suddenly Zack said in a very disguised voice that sounded like your average person on a phone. "Hi. Do I have a young female worth talking to? That's great. I'm from the Japan Sex Show. Tell us what you do with your boyfriend when you are bored." A pause "Yes. Thank you. I'm sure all of Japan would love to hear your story!" Some drunken yelling could be heard over the phone with a man's laugh in the background. Zack quickly hung up the phone.

"What happened," asked Asuka?

"Oh, I just got Misato to tell me what her and Kaji do when she is bored," replied Zack. "And she thinks I was going to broadcast over the entire country!"

This got everyone laughing to some extent. But now it was Zack's turn. "Rei. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Is there a boy you have a crush on?"

"I do not understand your question," said Rei.

"Is there a boy you wish to spend the rest of your life with?" asked Zack.

"I do not know."

"That's ok," said Shinji. "It's your turn Ayanami."

Rei this time shifted her focus towards Shinji. "Pilot Ikari, Truth or Dare."

A/N: This is where Shinji will regret underestimating Rei's dormant social skills and her very high intelligence.

"Dare."

"I want you to kiss Pilot Sohryu," said Rei in the her soft monotone voice.

Shinji's heart almost stopped when he heard what Rei said. Zack said "_Holy shit_," under his breath. Asuka's face turned a tomato red.

"Hey, I thought you said no sex stuff!" shouted Asuka.

"That's true," chuckled Zack. "But I never said anything about kissing. You know what you gotta do Shinji. And don't worry, if Asuka hurts you physically because of this, you will be compensated and/or avenged."

"Fine," said Asuka with defeat in her voice. "But you better not get any ideas Third Child!"

It felt like the time Asuka wanted to kiss Shinji to kill time. But this time things were different for the Third Child. This time, it was a dare. He moved closer to Asuka while saying to himself "I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away." They closed their eyes and finally, they locked lips. It was supposed to be a short kiss. But it lasted about 10 seconds as it looked like Asuka wanted to deepen it. But suddenly she broke it off, already very embarrassed.

"Hahaha!" Zack was laughing. At Asuka. "Looks like Her Highness has been knocked off her throne."

Asuka shot a death glare at Zack. Shinji asked Asuka this time.

"Truth," came her reply.

Shinji decided to play it safe. "Why did you bring me along when we fought that Angel at sea in Unit 02?"

"You think I was gonna fight something I barely knew anything about by myself?" replied Asuka. "You should think a little harder than that you idiot!"

Asuka had the First Child in her crosshairs. "Wondergirl. Truth or Dare."

Rei decided to try a dare this time. "Dare."

Asuka's grin grew even bigger. "I want you to go kiss Casanova over there."

Now Zack was at a loss of breath. He wondered how well she could kiss. He didn't have the time to ponder that thought as Rei came up to him and kissed him. She didn't even close her eyes. Her lips felt cold against his own. And it was over as fast as it started.

Rei this time asked Zack. He went with truth.

"Why do you see females as objects for your entertainment?"

"Now there's a lot of interpretation with that," Zack replied. "Most of the time, I look to see their reactions. Many things may happen. I may get slapped, and yes I have been. Some get disgusted at my comments, and some girls even like being hit on. But then there were those few times when I got into a serious relationship."

"How many girls have you kissed?" asked Asuka out of the blue.

"Uh, lemme see," said Zack. He was counting quietly. "I think either 35 or 36. How many boys have you kissed Asuka?"

Asuka's face turned red again. "Just that idiot!" pointing at Shinji. "And that's because Wondergirl made us do it!"

Zack sighed. "If you say so." This time, he turned to Shinji. Shinji went with truth. "How many times have you and Asuka kissed?"

Shinji felt his heart stop again. Then came the words into his mind again. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. "Twice, including just a few minutes ago."

The fact that Shinji revealed another seemingly "intimate moment" was all Asuka could stand. She went into her room and slammed the door.

"Well, I guess someone was really tired," said Zack. "We shall call it a night. And for the sake of Shinji and Asuka, we shall not speak of what took place here.

Rei and Shinji went to their respective rooms.

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Shinji and Zack's room

Shinji was pondering over the recent events. He remembered that kiss all to well. He could have sworn Asuka was deepening the kiss, but then assumed it was his teenage imagination getting the better of him.

Zack was wondering how he could bring Shinji and Asuka closer together. It would be difficult to know for sure, but he had a fairly good idea that one liked the other. One was too afraid to advance, and the other too afraid to admit it.

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Asuka and Rei's room

Rei thought about the events of that day. She remember how Zack said she had the power to make her own choices. She realized that she had chosen on her own to play Zack's truth or dare game. This realization gave her a sense of life that she never felt before. It had a good feeling behind it. She decided that she would want to experience this again.

Asuka had conflicting emotions about Shinji. She figured Zack deliberately set that stupid game up so he could humiliate her, using Shinij as the catalyst. Sure, she kissed Shinji before, but that was to kill time. Or was it… No! "I can't stand this," she said into the air.

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NERV HQ- Battle station

Ritsuko had called the NERV pilots down to headquarters. The kids immediately assumed it was a test. They even suited up in their plugsuits as if they were taking their sync tests today. Misato was late, and still a bit hung over.

"What is that?" Shinji asked. It looked like a huge computer. There were two seats with strange things that appeared to be placed on the head. And there was a big screen above it all.

"This is our latest invention, a virtual simulator," said Ritsuko. We put two of you into those pods. We digitize your minds, and you will be projected into the simulator. You will wake up in another world."

"What's it for?" asked Ivana

"Commander Ikari says it's for sparring purposes," replied the doctor. "He says SEELE may come back with more EVAs. So the best way to prepare to fight an EVA is to fight to an EVA. Simply put, we're going to use the virtual simulator to have you kids square off against each other."

"Wow," said Zack.

"Now I can prove once and for all that I am the best EVA pilot," boasted Asuka.

"We've uploaded your EVA data, sync ratios, and any weapons you choose to fight with," Ritsuko explained. "It will be like a real EVA battle. I have this battle schedule randomly created so each of you will fight the other once. Any questions?"

"What if we get killed in the simulator?" asked Toji.

"If you were to die in the simulator, your simulation will end and you will wake up back in the real world. Okay kids. Give it all you got!"

The first match was Asuka vs. Rei. The rules were simple. 5 minutes to kill your opponent. If you destroy your opponent, you win. If you get destroyed, you die. If both get destroyed or time runs out, it will be declared a draw.

Asuka and Rei sat inside the pods. Everyone watched as the NERV tech crew worked the controls and digitized the girls' minds. Suddenly, on the screen were EVA Units 00 and 02.

"Ready?" Misato shouted. "Fight!"

Both virtual EVAs charged at each other. They locked hands and began pushing at one another.

To Shinji, although it was virtual, it looked very real indeed. He looked around. He saw his father watching the fights too.

Shinji turned back around to see Unit 02 grab Unit 00's right arm with both hand and flip the blue and white giant over its red shoulder.

"Take that Wondergirl," boasted Asuka over the com.

"Wow, Asuka's sync ratio is already at 60," said Maya.

"Figures as much," said Misato. "Asuka and Rei don't exactly get along. This is fueling her desire to win."

Unit 00 grabbed a weapon. An assault rifle. She started firing at Asuka. Asuka countered by raising her AT Field to its maximum to block the attack. Asuka then ducked down low, and did a ninja-like charge. She tackled Rei and took out her progressive knife. With one stab, she pierced Unit 00's core, making the EVA explode.

Back outside the simulator, Rei suddenly woke up, feeling a little shaken. She then realized she lost the fight. Asuka came out pumping her fists. "Now you know my true power!" Everyone frowned at her display of arrogance.

Shinji was happy for Asuka though. "Way to go Asuka!"

Asuka's grin grew even bigger. "At least someone is totally awake!"

Ritsuko sighed. "Next up is Zack and Toji."

They took their positions. Zack was in Unit 05. Toji in Unit 03.

Toji was already confident. "I am so gonna tear you pieces!"

Zack was relatively calm. "Your overconfidence will do you in Suzahara."

"What did you say?"

"Exactly what I said."

"Now you're asking for it!"

The fight began. Unit 03 charged at Unit 05. Toji began launching punch after punch.

Zack merely chose to dodge his punches and block when he had to.

"He's doing it again," Shinji said.

"Doing what again," Misato asked.

Ivana chose to speak up. "Harper's fighting style is more defensive than offensive. He merely dodges his opponent's attacks and uses his opponent's own power against them when he counters. This style is best meant for smaller people against bigger people. But since they are of the same size, Suzahara has no chance at winning."

Ivana was right. Zack was dodging and countering at the same time. Then with 2 minutes left, Toji was exhausted. He tried one more attack, but Zack dodged again. And then decided to attack, karate-chopping Unit 03 in the back of the head, then kicking it down with immense force. Zack then took a progressive sword out of an equipment cache and…

"Told ya your overconfidence would do you in," said Zack.

Toji walked over to a corner with his head hung low, his dignity damaged.

The other battles went on. They were all fierce and everyone was fighting with everything they had.

"Okay. I think that's about it," said Ritsuko. "You all did very well." She then realized her hand was covering part of the schedule.

"Oh look, there's one more match on the list," said Misato with a chuckle. Ritsuko felt a little embarrassed at missing this seemingly miniscule detail and chuckled. But their jaws dropped when they saw who was to be in the last match.

Shinji vs. Asuka.

A/N: Expect the next battle to be the virtual battle of the century. I didn't go into detail of the many other battles. I'll let you use your imagination about what happened in the other battles. On another note, I'm not pairing Zack with Rei. I just to show that more people than just Shinji are willing to welcome this enigmatic but nice girl into their worlds. Until the next chapter, be cool!


	5. Shinji vs Asuka

A/N: Well, here it is. Here is what is most likely to be the biggest battle on an Evangelion virtual simulator ever. And Gemini Dreams, you need to read a little slower. You would have seen that I wrote that the virtual simulator was NERV's **latest invention**. On with the battle of the century!

The statement Ritsuko was trying to make was incredibly difficult. "The last b-b-battle is between…"

Now the other pilots were curious. They had gotten so excited during their simulation battles that they had also forgotten who was destined to battle next. Regardless, they were on the edge of their seats as Ritsuko finally named the combatants for the final match.

"Shinji vs. Asuka," said Ritsuko finally.

There was a huge gasp heard all around the room. EVERYONE who was a NERV employee knew about Shinji and Asuka's rivalry. Shinji could be a bit of a wimp at home, but when he was in an EVA, he could be the feared person on the battlefield. Asuka could not stand it if anyone was better than her. Especially if that same person lived in the same house with her. And they were usually at odds with each other when it came to piloting EVA.

A confident look came across Shinji's face when he heard the call. He was ready to prove to Asuka that she was NOT better than him like she always bragged she was.

"I am so going to enjoy destroying you, Third Child," said Asuka with a huge smirk on her face as she climbed into her seat.

"Just try it. I'll show you why the Angels feared me!" said Shinji as he got into his seat. Asuka would not shake his confidence when it came to EVA.

"Let's get this over with," sighed Misato. She knew one of them was going to have their confidence and their pride shattered when one of them loses.

"Look at this!" shouted Maya. "Shinji and Asuka's sync ratios are now tied at 90!"

"Oh my god!" whispered Ritsuko. "Their desire to fight each other is making their sync go up. Is the failsafe mechanism in place in case the worst case scenario happens?"

"Yes it is," said Maya.

"Uploading now!" shouted Makoto. Now EVA Units 01 and 02 were on screen. They then chose their weapons. Surprisingly, they both chose progressive swords.

"BEGIN!" shouted Misato. The 5-minute timer activated.

A/N: To make this epic battle more interesting, listen to some good fighting music.

The two pilots charged at each other. Time seemed to stand still. The only thing that mattered was the total annihilation of their respective opponent. Their two swords met with a clash. Asuka tried a V-step and cut on a 45-degree angle to Shinji's right. Shinji sidestepped to his left, barely dodging the blade and attacked Asuka with an overhead cleave. Asuka quickly had to go defensive and blocked the attack. The two stepped back and then clashed again.

4:45 left.

"Their synch ratios are rising!" said Maya over the battle noise. "93.9"

Asuka attacked in random patterns of high and low and middle. Her rage fuelling her as she intensified her assaults upon her fellow student and pilot.

Shinji countered with the unthinkable. He jumped into the air, combining a flip with a 180-degree spin and tried to hack Asuka in the back.

Asuka was shocked at his maneuver but it did not stop her from blocking it. And attacked right back.

Shinji was enraged that his move failed, but he countered and attacked again.

"Their sync scores are rising even higher! 95.4! And climbing!" shouted Maya again.

"How are their vital signs?" asked Ritsuko.

"Their brainwaves are ecstatic! Shinji's heart rate is 135 beats! Asuka's is 137! The chances of either of them entering cardiac arrest is extremely high!" said Shigeru. "Their hearts will literally explode if this keeps up!"

4:00 left.

Shinji was on the attack. Through some skillful swordplay, he managed to shove Asuka's sword aside as he went in for the final blow and…

WHAM! Asuka had kicked him and sent him flying avoiding his likely deathblow. She went to finish him off with a stab to the chest, but he dodged her attack and used his legs to sweep her off her feet. She quickly got back up and was on the defensive again.

Misato was horrified at what she saw. Two kids, who were like her son and daughter, were giving it all they got, threatening to destroy each other, while threatening to destroy themselves at the same time. She then realized; THIS was their **full potential**. Was their any way out without them destroying each other?

"98.79!" came the technician's cry. Misato wondered, what would happen if they hit 100 in a simulator? Would the EVA's go berserk like what usually would happen with Shinji?

Shinji felt he was going to explode with the way he was outputting his energy. But he kept digging deeper and deeper for the energy and stamina to keep going at such a high intensity. Asuka was doing the same, looking for more power. Unbeknownst to each other, but in unison, they vowed to win this battle. Even if it would cost them their lives… That power they were looking for came!

3:30 left.

"SYNC RATIOS ARE AT 100!" screamed Maya who was in a true panic.

"Shit!" shouted Ritsuko. "Shut this simulation down NOW! Use the failsafe program!"

"It's not working!" shouted Makoto. "Those kids are refusing to stop!"

"What's going on!" asked Misato.

Ritsuko tried to explain. "When the EVAs hit 100 it comes to life! But since this is a simulator the EVAs can't come to life. For every percent over 100 in this simulator shows how far beyond their tolerance levels they are going!" 102 read the computers. "They are now going 2 beyond their tolerance levels! Even when the timer runs out, they'll keep fighting!"

Misato was speechless. Those kids are going to die. And they won't stop till the other is dead. She looked at the pilot's visuals. It was horrifying. They looked okay, but their eye pupils had disappeared, leaving their eyes completely white. It was truly terrifying to watch.

Shinji attacked again. He screamed with rage as his vicious onslaught kept going. An equally vicious Asuka however, was blocking his slashes. She also screamed with rage as she parried and attacked again.

"Their sync ratios are at 110!" shouted Maya.

"MAGI says if their sync levels hit 150 at this rate, their hearts will explode and their brains will be fried at the rate they are going at!" said Makoto.

"Shinji's heart rate is 160! Asuka's is 159!" shouted Shigeru.

"Keep trying the shutdown program," ordered a very panicked Ritsuko. To her horror, it was not working. "Don't stop trying."

Shinji parried Asuka's attacks for a bit then backed off. He drew out another progressive sword. Asuka did the same. And attacked again! This time with two swords. Asuka also charged with her two swords. They were moving so fast they appeared to be blurs to the human eye. But they could track each movement perfectly. They were sadly oblivious to the actual danger they were in for fighting at the rate they were fighting.

2:45 left.

The other pilots were horrified at what they saw. They didn't see two pilots battling. These were not their friends. The only thing they saw were two monsters waging war at each other, vowing to fight to the death. They then knew that this was Shinji and Asuka's full potential. They also quickly realized that if Shinji and Asuka fought any of them like the way they are fighting now, they would be destroyed in seconds.

"Their sync levels will not stop climbing!" shouted Maya. "130!"

"Death is absolute at the rate they are going at!" replied Shigeru. Their heart rates are now at 170! Their hearts will not be able to take much more of this! Brain damage will be absolute too!"

Usually, in the past when it came to the use of swords, it was said to be foolish to use two swords as it deviated from the way in which swords were meant to be used. But Shinji and Asuka were using two swords as if that was the way they were to be used.

1:30 left.

"The shutdown isn't working!" said Ritsuko. "Is there any other way to shut down this simulator?"

"The only way to do that would be to shut down the entire facility!" replied Makoto. "And that would mean shutting down the MAGI!"

Ritsuko knew the MAGI could not be shutdown at all costs. She and everyone else had resigned Shinji and Asuka to their dooms. "Let me know when they've stopped," said a very upset Ritsuko. She also noticed that Misato had left the room too. She assumed Misato could not take any more of this either.

1:00 left.

"Sync levels are at 140!" said Maya.

Shinji was getting very agitated. All of his assaults were not working! His head and chest felt like they would explode. But he vowed not to let that stop them. He slashed and slashed again!

Asuka felt that she could not take more of this. But she would not let some physical technicality stop her from beating her rival. She parried and attacked again!

Everyone in the base could no longer watch. Shinji and Asuka's bodies in the seats were shaking uncontrollably from their minds in such a heated battle. Suddenly Misato reappeared. "MOVE!" she shouted.

Everyone turned to look at Misato. She was holding a sledgehammer. Everyone quickly figured out what Misato planned to do. "There's more than one way to shut down this piece of junk!"

Sync levels hit 147. Shinji and Asuka charged again, with way more intensity than all the previous attacks combined.

"Misato, don't do that!" shouted Ritsuko.

The false blonde only got one blunt reply from Misato. "FUCK YOU!"

Misato charged at the simulator, brought the hammer overhead and brought it back down with seemingly inhuman force. The computer exploded, making sparks fly everywhere. As everyone expected, the computer shut down.

"I want medical teams down here now!" shouted Misato. In a matter of seconds, paramedics came and took Shinji and Asuka's bodies to NERV's ER.

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NERV Cafeteria

The other pilots felt very shaken. They had watched what appeared to be a horrifying fight. None of them could even speak, let alone eat anything. It had been 3 hours since Shinji and Asuka were rushed into the E.R. The only reports they got was that they were in critical condition. They all silently hoped that their two fellow pilots were going to survive this incident. Even Rei Ayanami was worried for her fellow pilots.

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NERV Hospital- 3 days after the incident with the virtual simulator.

Shinji woke up, feeling very dazed. He quickly remembered where he was. He was in the NERV's hospital room. But how did he end up here. He remembered Ritsuko talking about the virtual simulator. Then he remembered his battle with Asuka. He remembered fighting her, but then after about a minute into the battle, he blacked out, and now he was here. He noticed he was hooked up to a life support system with a device that monitored his vital organs He wondered what in the world he did to end up on a life support system. He just couldn't remember.

He looked over to the bed beside him. It was Asuka. She was also on a life support system. She was also waking up. She then noticed he was in a hospital bed.

Shinji asked her how in the world they got here. Asuka replied by saying that she remembered being in the battle with him, but then blacking out during the battle.

When Misato came in, she was overjoyed that they were alive. She explained that their sync ratios had hit 147 during the virtual battle. And that afterwards they in the Intensive Care Unit as the doctors were able to slow their hearts down without the body going into shock. Then they just decided to let the kids rest until they woke up. Which wasn't for three days.

"Oh yeah, and the doctors suggested that you take the rest of the week off school," said Misato. Your brainwaves went crazy during your battle. So no deep thoughts for either of you. Also, you two won't be piloting EVA for at least 10 days, so your minds can get some much needed rest."

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Misato's Apartment- Wednesday (Early May)

"We're off Misato!" called Zack as he and Rei walked to school.

"I'm off too!" said Misato. While looking at Shinji and Asuka, she said: "Now you two, stay in the apartment and be good. Ritsuko said you two need your rest until you have fully recovered. The only time you need to be leaving is if the emergency sirens go off. Got that?"

"Yessss Misato," they said at the same time with obvious tones of boredom in their voices.

So Shinji made himself and Asuka breakfast because they were still a little shaken from the virtual battles.

The kids tried to find something to do. Shinji found Asuka in her room grooming the plush doll of himself. Gathering the confidence that Zack told him to have, he found the guts to strike up a question. "What are you doing Asuka?"

Asuka was surprised to get anything coming from Shinji that had nothing to do with an apology. So she chose to reward him by giving him a straight answer. "What does it look like? I'm giving the doll a much needed grooming job. Everything in my room has to look good. So I'm giving the doll of you a much needed grooming job knowing who it looks like," she replied. It was an obvious insult.

Shinji assumed that although Asuka has toned down her ego a LOT since the Angels and the aborted 3rd Impact, there were still a ways to go before she could totally kill her ego. He proceeded to leave her room, picked up a magazine in his room he bought while ago. It was a Shonen Jump. It was a comic book with all sorts of different stories in it. He went into the TV room and read it.

He was reading for about fifteen minutes when Asuka came into the room. He didn't notice her until she leaned over in front of his face and says: "Whatcha readin?" she asked in a casual tone.

Shinji starts explaining what he's reading as he brings his head up. As he does, he's in for a surprise. Asuka is wearing a fairly loose shirt, and is standing inches in front of him giving him a fairly good look at her breasts. He quickly shoots his head up the rest of the way, but is in shock from the sight of Asuka's chest and was at a loss for words.

Asuka then snatched the book out of his hands and decided to look for herself. "Wow. So this is a Shonen Jump."

"Shinji regained his composure when Asuka didn't react like he would expect her to. "Yeah. There's all sorts of different stories in here. Zack has Shonen Jumps too, but they're all in English so I couldn't read them."

"I can't read this Japanese either," said Asuka. Shoving the book back in Shinji's hands, she said: "Read it to me!"

Shinji was caught by surprise. "B-b-but…"

"Stop arguing and start reading!" she retorted.

Shinji quickly resigned himself to read to the German redhead to whom he secretly had a crush on, but would never say for fear of getting smacked or berated. He read several different stories. But after an hour, he noticed she had fallen asleep. He noticed that she looked so peaceful when she was sleeping. Shinji then decided to pick her up, carry her to her room, and set her down on the futon. After tucking Asuka back into bed, he proceeded to watch some TV. After flicking through the channels, he found a show with some comedians trying to do stand-up comedy.

Asuka woke up. "When did I fall asleep?" she said out loud. She checked the clock 12:30pm it said. She must have slept for about an hour. She assumed Shinji must have carried her into her room. She proceeded out of her room to see what Shinji was doing. He appeared to be watching TV. A comedy show from the looks of it. And Shinji appeared to be laughing along with it. She thought for a minute that he didn't look so bad when he was in a happy state rather than his usual state of being a total wimp. But then her stomach growled. And Shinji wasn't making lunch! So she decided to change that.

"Oh Shinji…" she said in a very seductive voice.

Shinji turned around to see Asuka with a big grin on her face. Suddenly her smile turned into a frown. Then sudden anger!

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? I'M STARVING! MAKE ME SOMETHING TO EAT! NOW!"

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That Saturday.

It seemed like it would be a normal day. The four pilots Shinji, Asuka, Zack, and Rei were taking a stroll around town. Zack said he wanted to show them all something special. But then, the emergency sirens were blaring! Zack's plan was totally disregarded as the pilots hurried to NERV.

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NERV- Battle Stations

"We've picked up targets outside Tokyo-3," said Makoto. "There's a total of nine of them. Each of them are about the size of our EVAs."

"AT Fields detected but the waveform pattern is not blue," said Shigeru.

"Go to First Stage Alert," replied Gendo Ikari. "Have all the pilots on standby. I want a visual of the targets."

"Yes sir," said Makoto. What the NERV picked up shocked everyone. There were nine white beings that looked like EVAs."

"Just as we thought," said Fuyutski.

"Yes," replied Gendo. "SEELE is back."

A/N: What do you think of that? The EVA Series are back for a rematch! And we sure as hell know SEELE is pulling these EVA's strings. However, there is still hope, as this time it will be a 9-on-6 instead of a 9-on-1! Can the kids stop SEELE's behemoths? Find out! And oh yeah, I don't own Shonen Jumps either. (That'll keep them off my back!)


	6. Rematch with SEELE

A/N: To Incognito Girl, sorry I couldn't put anything else in for the rest of Shinji and Asuka's week. Just try to imagine Shinji being able to find ways to keep himself busy, while Asuka constantly tries to find ways to get Shinji to pay attention to her. To nick2951, rest assured I WILL NOT pair Rei and Kensuke. To make you feel more secure on this matter, Kensuke won't be paired with anyone at all. As for Shinji and Gendo, give the wimp, the ass, and myself some time. I got something special planned along those lines.

Now my loyal readers, get ready for another vicious take-no-prisoners battle! NERV vs. SEELE Round 2! Last time was a no decision! Both sides really want to take this one! Now on with the story!

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NERV-Launch Bay

Misato was briefing the kids on what was about to happen. They were all to be in for a take-no-prisoners battle against the EVA Series. Asuka was almost ready to refuse to battle. These were the same things that picked her apart last time on the day of 3rd Impact.

"Don't worry Asuka," said a reassuring Shinji. "You're not alone this time. We're all fighting this together. Or you can stay here and we'll fight."

"No way am I being left behind. I'll go.Just stay out of my way," said a now frustrated Asuka.

"Okay, are you six all ready?" asked Misato.

"I am ready," said Rei.

"They are so fucking dead! I can't wait to have another crack at them!" declared Asuka. She would definitely be on board.

"Let's do this," replied Shinji.

"Time to kick some SEELE butt!" shouted Toji.

"Let us engage the enemy," said Ivana.

"HEY SEELE! COME AND GET SOME _ASSHOLES_!" shouted Zack.

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Commander Ikari's Office

Gendo had been expecting this for sometime now. SEELE tried to stop his 3rd Impact from happening. And 3rd Impact had almost taken place. However, it was stopped by his son instead, a calculation he never took into account. Ever since that day, he decided after seeing Yui when Reilith (18th Angel) merged everyone into a single entity, to carry on with life as normal. Now was the time to ponder why SEELE had come back. Revenge he assumed. NERV would always be a black spot on the old men's records. So they've come back to get revenge for being humiliated. He decided to pay the old men a visit. He allowed himself a smile at his boldness to enter their conference room.

"Now only if they were really there," he said out loud.

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SEELE Conference Room

This room always looked dark and creepy. This was where SEELE held their meetings. There were 12 big computers in a circle. They only said sound only because as many would assume, they don't want to be seen. Voices could be heard from the computers.

"Now we shall crush them like we had planned before," said SEELE 06.

"Gendo Ikari will not make it out of this one," said SEELE 03

"However, we must take into account that our EVA Series will be fighting six EVAs and not just one this time," said SEELE 11.

"That is true, but the EVA Series is much more powerful as we proved the first time," replied SEELE 05.

"Since we are going to win anyway, why can't we have a little fun while we are at it?" asked SEELE 09.

They discussed SEELE 09's idea. "Yes, it would be quite entertaining," said SEELE 01. We'll contact Ikari and see how he takes this.

Suddenly Gendo appeared in their conference room. One could swear a few of them choked on their breaths as he suddenly appeared.

"Ah, Gendo Ikari," said SEELE 01. "You know you cannot survive this time."

"I'm surprised you old men had the guts to come out of hiding," replied Gendo.

"We have a little game planned for you," said SEELE 12. "Each of us will put out one EVA at a time. Six one-on-one matches. Then after that, it will be a free-for-all. If you lose, you are to surrender peacefully. If you win, which you will not, we shall take our leave until another day."

"Games are not in my interest," replied the Commander. "If you want to play for more time, then do as you wish."

The visual of Gendo then disappeared as quickly as it had came.

"Always confident until it ends," said SEELE 01. "Then it will look that much better when your EVAs and your pilots are killed before your very eyes."

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Just outside Tokyo-3

"So that's it, said Zack in EVA Unit 05. One-on-one battles. This should be interesting."

"This is what Commander Ikari wanted us to do," replied Misato over the com. "And remember, as part of the agreement, no weapons, otherwise all of them will attack."

"So, who will go first?" asked Shinji.

"I wanna go first!" bellowed Asuka over the com.

Ritsuko came on the com. "The MAGI has determined that Zack should go first."

"All right. Time to kick some EVA ass!" said Zack. He moved Unit 05 onto the battlefield. In response, one of the EVA Series moved onto the battlefield.

"Anything I should know about these Asuka?" asked Zack. "Misato told me you got very acquainted with these guys."

"They're bastards, and they won't fucking die unless you smash their cores into nothing!" came the blunt reply.

Then the battle began. Zack charged at the white EVA with everything he got. After exchanging blows for about a minute Zack was surprised.

"Whew! These things are tough! But I'll show you moves that made Canada proud!"

They charged again. The white EVA was expecting another grapple, but Unit 05 came in instead with a shoulder charge. It crashed into a nearby mountain.

"Haha!" shouted Zack. "In Canada, we call that a body check!"

The white EVA then came out of the mountain. To Zack's surprise, it was completely unharmed. It then took to the sky. Suddenly it came down, arms stretched out, and spinning like a drill. Of course, it missed. Zack took this chance while it was recovering to get in a few more hits. To any other adversary, they would be pretty badly beaten. Zack was caught by surprise and knocked down by a combo from the enemy.

"Damn! These things can take quite a beating. I don't know how much longer I can fight trying to wear it down!" said Zack.

"You're trying to wear it down?" asked Misato.

"Well duh. That's how I always fight."

"You can fight it all day and it won't show the slightest sign of fatigue!" said Misato. "You'll have to go in for the kill!"

"With pleasure."

Zack proceeded to attack again. The white EVA blocked and tried to counter but Unit 05 somehow stepped out of the way. This totally caught the EVA by surprise. Zack picked it up from behind. And slammed it over his shoulder backwards.

"That's what us Canadians call a belly-to-back suplex. This is what I call playing doctor!"

Zack began to tear away at the white EVA's chest. It squirmed helplessly as it tried to break free. But it wasn't working. After some tearing with his EVA's hands, he found the core. He grabbed the core, and with a powerful yank, he ripped the core right out and crushed it! The EVA went completely silent.

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NERV HQ-Battle Stations

"The first target has gone completely silent," said Makoto. Cheers all around followed this report from the others watching the battle.

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Battlefield

"Hey assholes!" shouted Zack to the EVA Series. "You SUCK!" He starts to moon the EVA Series with his Unit 05.

"Easy now Zack. You've done your job," said Misato over the com.

Ritsuko came back on. "Our calculations indicate that Rei should go next."

"Yes ma'am," came the nearly silent reply from Unit 00.

Unit 05 came off the battlefield and slapped Unit 00's hand.

"That's a tag-in," said Zack. "Go show him what happens when you mess with NERV Rei."

"Do your best," said Shinji over the com.

Asuka was frustrated. "Whatever. Just hurry up so I can have my turn!"

Unit 00 stepped onto the battlefield. Another White EVA flew onto the battlefield.

The next battle began. Rei was more vicious on the field than Zack was as she tried to force her enemy to the ground immediately. This EVA figured that Rei would go for the kill quickly. It jumped over her and kicked in her in the back. Rei quickly recovered and they grappled again. To her shock, it was pushing her back. Rei remember what Asuka did in the virtual simulator. She allowed her enemy to continue pushing. She then grabbed one of its arms and flipped it over her shoulder.

The EVA was taken aback by Rei's counter attack. It assumed a boxing stance and began throwing a flurry of punches at Unit 00.

Rei was not familiar with boxing, so she wasn't sure how to react. She was more thrown off when she got kicked while trying to dodge the punches.

"Hey Ayanami!" shouted Toji from Unit 03. "Watch out, that's kickboxing! It's gonna box and kick!"

"It appears that this one fights differently from the first one," said Shinji. "The one Zack fought was acrobatic, this one boxes."

Rei was still on the defensive, as the EVA Series behemoth continued its intense kickboxing styled attacks.

"Rei. Keep playing defense till you see an opening," called Ivana. "Every fighting style has a weakness.

It was looking bad for Rei. She was blocking, as it was all she could do at the moment. However, her arms were getting sore from all those hits. Eventually, the enemy would breach her defenses. Unless…

Flashback: Asuka attacked Shinji. He did the unthinkable, jumping in the air with a flip and 180-degree turn to be facing her back.

Rei then knew what she had to do. She stepped just out of the enemy's range. This would draw the enemy in close to her. As expected the white EVA moved in. In response, Rei jumped in the air, doing a flip with a 180-degree spin. Now she was facing its back. She tackled it. Unit 00 then proceeded to rip the EVA Series' back open till she found the core. It continued to struggle against her. Rei decided to rip its arms off. With two mighty yanks, its arms came off. It continued to thrash, but it was helpless as Rei used her EVA's hands to rip it open. After about 10 seconds of ripping, with EVA blood splashed everywhere, Rei found what she was looking for, its core. With a pull, the core came right out. With the loss of its core, the white EVA ceased to live.

"And that's that!" shouted Zack over the com. "Round 2 goes to NERV! I think we're getting on their nerves right now! _Serves those old farts right_!"

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SEELE Room

SEELE was a tad pissed that two of their EVA Series were so easily defeated.

"This is intolerable," said SEELE 12 "We've lost two already."

"We cannot afford to lose again," said SEELE 08.

"Calm down," said SEELE 01. "This is just mere entertainment for them and us. It's the least we can do before we destroy them."

"Oh that's what you had in mind!" said SEELE 04.

"Yes."

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Battlefield.

Another EVA Series took to the field. Ritsuko was going over more data on who should fight next.

"Okay. According to the MAGI, it says Ivana should go next," she reported.

"Understood ma'am," replied Ivana. Unit 04 stepped onto the battlefield as Unit 00 left the battlefield.

"So Shinji," asked Zack. "How do you think this'll end?"

"Well, I want Ivana to win of course," replied Shinji.

"I know that's how it's gonna end. I meant how long do you think that EVA Series will last before Ivana tears it to shreds?"

"I don't know," said Shinji.

"You're no fun."

The battle began between Evangelion Unit 04 and the 3rd EVA from the EVA Series. It would be difficult to know who was who because both EVAs are white, but the kids knew their comrade well. This battle would be over before it started.

This EVA Series knew karate. It aimed a punch at Unit 04. Ivana, managed to catch the arm with one arm, bring it around it back, put her other arm around its neck, and snapped it like a twig. The EVA Series fell to the ground, twitching as it did. Ivana then effortlessly tore open the body, and crushed the core.

Everyone at NERV was shocked and stunned. Ivana had defeated one of the EVA Series in a mere10 seconds.

"Uhh, Toji goes next," said Ritsuko.

"All right! It's my turn now!" boasted Toji. Unit 03 stepped onto the battlefield. Once more, another EVA Series flew onto the field. And so the next battle began.

Toji and the EVA started with a grapple. To Toji's surprise, the EVA picked him up and slammed him over its shoulder.

"Great," said Toji. "This one is a wrestler. So what? I can wrestle too!"

A/N: Just for my own fun, I had each of the EVA Series fight a different way.

All the other pilots had sweat drops coming down the backs of their heads. After a few minutes, this was looking like the wrestling matches they had seen on TV.

"Now I REALLY know why wrestling is the stupidest sport," said Asuka over the com. "Only a stooge would actually wrestle."

It could be seen easily that Toji was getting tired. It wasn't easy picking up something that was relatively huge.

"C'mon Toji!" shouted Zack. "Use one of your finishing moves already."

"Alright, fine!" muttered Toji. The EVA charged at him again. Toji blocked the charge, and kicked the EVA in the midsection, making the upper body bend over. Toji then picked up the EVA by its waist while it was still bent over. As he picked it up, he spun it around halfway and up above his head, then he slammed into the earth with tremendous force. "That's what I call a power bomb!" shouted Toji.

Unit 03 began to do the gruesome task the others had to do, rip the thing open and destroy its core. And before long, another unit of the EVA Series was dead.

"Is it just me or do these things suck?" said Asuka over the com. "Hey Misato, is it my turn yet?"

"Yup. You're up Asuka," replied Misato.

"Now I can finally get revenge for these things picking me apart before! You're going down you bastard!"

EVA Unit 02 came onto the battlefield next. Her opponent took a martial arts style stance.

"Hey? Who the hell do you think you are? Jet Li?" was the outburst over the com. Asuka charged at her opponent. The EVA dodged and blocked with well flowing moves, and kicked Unit 02 flying. Auska slammed into the mountain. She quickly recovered and attacked again. Only to have the EVA counter and smack her in the back of the head. Once again she went crashing down. She got back up, even angrier.

"Asuka, calm down," said Misato. "This one knows Kung Fu. So be careful. This one is obviously a better fighter than you, so you'll have to be creative with your attacks."

"Great. They give me the ones that'll kill me. These are the kind of jobs you make HIM do!" shouted Asuka while pointing at Shinji. "He's the All Mighty Invincible Shinji!"

Shinji had to give Asuka the motivation to keep fighting. Anything. The wave of confidence came back. "What's wrong Asuka? Need me to save you?"

"What? How dare you! I'll finish this thing myself!"

"Heh, that's the spirit," said Shinji.

Asuka attacked again, with more determination than ever. It attacked again, but Asuka countered with some moves of her own. The EVA crashed into another mountain. It got back up, and attacked Asuka. She tried blocking, but it got around her and struck her in the back of the head with a spinning back kick. Unit 02 went down hard face first. The EVA came upon its red coloured prey, going in for the kill, when Unit 02 spun around and smashed a large rock in its face. Asuka then drop kicked it and it also went down hard. However, just like the others, it was showing no signs of fatigue.

"Dammit! This is just like before!" shouted a panting Asuka. "Why doesn't this stupid thing die?"

It came back at her again. Once again using its very complicated move patterns that the German had no chance of following.

From Shinji's perspective, it was horrible. Asuka was getting beat around by a white EVA. He couldn't do anything unless he violated the agreement NERV and SEELE had for this match. What could he do?

"I can't beat it!" shouted Asuka. "It's too strong!"

"Asuka, fuck this agreement. I'm sending in Shinji in to help you," said Misato.

"No! I'd rather die than be saved!"

"Negative Asuka. Your life is more important," said Misato.

"Forget it Misato," said Shinji. "Asuka! I have faith in you!"

"See Misato? Someone understands that I fight my own battles! And that's just fine with me!" said Asuka with confidence coming back in her voice.

Once more Asuka went into battle, more determined than ever. She began another assault on the EVA. It defended like it always did, but for some reason, it looked like Asuka was slowly getting through, the exchange of punches, kicks, and blocks continued until…

WHAM!

Asuka had hit the EVA with an uppercut, which made it stumble back, Asuka then took this moment to tackle the EVA.

"Remember what I'm gonna do?" she asked the EVA. "I'm gonna rip your guts out you son of a bitch!" She then proceeded to rip away at it. The EVA struggled and struggled, but skill this time could beat pure determination. With the destruction of its core and the splash of blood everywhere, it could have easily been told that Asuka had pulled a comeback victory and beat the EVA.

"Well I guess that leaves just Shinji," said Ritsuko.

So Shinji took his place on the battlefield. This was usually the main event. Shinji was seen as the best of the EVA pilots, despite his virtual battle with Asuka. The 6th of 9 EVA Series EVAs took to the field.

And the battle began. Shinji went for a head on attack like he always did. But for some reason, the EVA did not dodge. It vanished right before his eyes. Suddenly a great force pushed him forward, sending him crashing into the ground.

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NERV- Battle Station

Ritsuko was dumbfounded. There was no way an EVA could vanish like that and reappear behind Shinji like it just did. She checked with the MAGI to see what kind of martial arts style this was. She was horrified when she read the results. She knew in an instant Shinji didn't stand a chance against….

Ninjitsu.


	7. The end of the battle and Parties!

A/N: This chapter may prove to be long. I don't know until I finish. I guarantee at least 3,000 words a chapter. Now on to the story. Can Shinji defeat an EVA that uses Ninjitsu?

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Shinji was dumbfounded at how to fight this opponent. It was using all these dazzling moves, and putting him in a lot of pain. Shinji tried, but he couldn't keep up.

The others watched in horror as the EVA appeared to be walking up Shinji's EVA before stomping him into the ground again.

Shinji decided that he would have to do what Asuka did and be creative. He charged again. The EVA vanished and kicked him in the back of the head sending him flat on his face again.

"Dammit. Stay still you bastard!" shouted Shinji in frustration.

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NERV- Battle Station

Misato was shocked at t what she was seeing. The other EVA Series did not put up a fight like this. Even Asuka was able to beat one that knew Kung Fu. She assumed SEELE had found out about the lost art of Ninjitsu and decided to sick it on Shinji, knowing he was the best of the EVA pilots.

Ritsuko put a hand on Misato's shoulder. "Don't worry Misato, Shinji has been in tighter spots before."

"I have faith in him too," said Misato. "But it still hurts watching how he suffers out there, fighting for those he loves. Why does it have to be him?"

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Battlefield

Shinji wasn't having any better luck. He was still getting smacked silly. But then the EVA did the unthinkable. It cut his power cable. Now he had only 5 minutes to think of a way to beat this thing.

"_Oh shit_," said Zack in English. "Now he has only 5 minutes."

Shinji had to play defense. He was still getting smacked around though. What could he do? An idea then hit him.

4:40 left.

He charged again. The EVA again vanished. But this time he kicked his leg backwards. His attack hit home. The white EVA was sent flying backwards. Shinji then charged forward to finish the job. The EVA however with a twirl of its legs was back on his feet in a heartbeat. Once back on its feet, it proceeded to deliver a number of hits to the front of Unit 01's body, then a nasty blow to the back of the head.

Suddenly the timer dropped from 4:20 to 1:30.

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NERV- Battle Station

"Emergency power in Unit 01 has been damaged!" said Shigeru.

Makoto gave his report. "Unit 01 has less than 90 seconds of power!"

Everyone then realized that Shinji would lose this battle. And this EVA could probably take out the others rather easily.

Gendo then stood up. He picked up the com. "Unit 01, why aren't you fighting back?"

"I can't! It's too strong!" came the panicked reply from Unit 01's entry plug.

"You can fight back," said Gendo. "It's actually a choice that you have."

"I can't fight back!"

"Shinji. You have the power. It's up to you if you wish to use it or not! Or will you run away again?" said Gendo.

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Battlefield

Shinji was now confused by what his father meant. He had the power all along? Well if he did, he had better figure it out quickly. He had only 45 seconds left. Suddenly he got hit again hard.

To his and everyone else's shock, Unit 01 deactivated.

"NOOOOOOO!" shouted Zack.

"Screw the agreement!" shouted Asuka. "That idiot is not going to die on us!" She got her Unit 02 ready to intercept the Ninjitsu-styled EVA.

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Inside Unit 01.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Now what could he do? He was out of power. He failed everyone. Now this EVA monster would come and destroy his core, thus killing him in the process. He was all alone. He had no one there to comfort him. The only thing he had was the alleged fact that his mother's soul was trapped in the EVA. He realized, his mother had protected him before. And if necessary, she would protect her son again.

A look of confidence was now on his face. He grabbed the controls, and shouted: "Let's do this together Mom!"

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Battlefield.

Unit 02 was going to attack the EVA suddenly Unit 01 came back to life.

"What the hell!" shouted Zack. "It's back to life on no power?"

"Oh my god!" shouted Asuka.

"What are you talking about?" asked Toji.

"Get back!" shouted Misato over the com.

"Don't worry Misato! Everything is fine!" said Shinji.

"Shinji?" they all said in unison.

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NERV- Battle station

"Shinji's sync ratio has hit 100," said Maya.

"But how can Shinji still be in control? The EVA usually goes berserk." But then she realized, that Shinji's mother is inside Unit 01. He calls to her and she helps him. But then he also must be getting used to the berserk mode at the same time.

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Battlefield

The EVA went to finish off Shinji. Suddenly, Unit 01 grabbed its arm, pulled it in and kicked it flying. The EVA crashed into a nearby mountain. It got back on its feet rather quick as always though. Unit 01 charged at a demonic-like speed. The EVA got behind it really fast like always. However, just as it was about to attack, Unit 01 spun around and punched it in the face. The EVA was sent flying. It was a bit slow to get up. Too slow to counter Unit 01. Unit 01 knocked it onto the ground. Next it tore the EVA's legs off. Then it tore the arms off. Blood was everywhere. In one thrust of Unit 01's arm, it punched right through the EVA, and ripped the core right out and destroyed it.

"Woohoo! Six for six!" shouted Zack over the intercom.

Then Unit 01 went silent.

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NERV- Battle Station

"We've lost all contact with Unit 01," reported Shigeru.

"Pilot is alive though," said Makoto.

Ritsuko wondered. Why would SEELE allow 6 of its 9 EVA Series to be beaten? And with Shinji unable to move, what's going to happen now?

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Battlefield

Suddenly, the other EVA Series began to move. They drew weapons. They looked like weird looking spears.

"Watch out!" shouted Misato. "They're each wielding a Lance of Longinus!"

"The Lance of WHAT?" asked Zack. "Those things are so scary that they actually have a name?"

Rei spoke up. "The Lance of Longinus has the power to penetrate an AT Field with no difficulty."

"Crap, we'll get sliced at this rate!" said Toji.

A large cache appeared behind them. "Here are some weapons," said Misato. "BE CAREFUL! AND PROTECT SHINJI!"

And so the 5-on-3 battle began. Ivana took on one by her self with a progressive sword. Toji and Zack took on another one. Toji had a positron rifle. Zack had a battle-ax. Asuka and Rei both used two progressive knives.

Shinji could only watch as his comrades battled 3 EVA Series that held those Lances of Longinus. "Could they win," he asked aloud.

"These EVAs are much more efficient then the previous ones," said Ivana, over the intercom.

Toji and Zack were having difficulty getting through their opponent. Toji fought in front, while Zack attacked from behind. Zack took a wild swing at it. The EVA brought the lance behind it and blocked the attack. Toji then fired off some rounds at it. The EVA took the hits head on. Toji then charged in with his progressive knife to finish the job. Then that EVA did the unthinkable. It used the lance to push Zack back, and stabbed Unit 03 through the chest.

A bloodcurdling human scream could be heard over the com. And Unit 03 went down.

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NERV- Battle Station

"Unit 03 is down!" shouted Shigeru.

Now the others were in a panic. Ritsuko gave the order to reroute all Unit 03's power to the life support system, as Toji could not fight with his injury.

"Zack, lead that EVA away from Toji!" ordered Misato.

"Yes ma'am," said Zack as he parried the EVA's attacks and moved back so the EVA would follow him and get away from Toji.

Ivana was having difficulty penetrating the EVA's defenses. But her own repertoire of skills could enable her to continue protecting herself. But she couldn't keep this up forever. She blocked the attack and stabbed again.

Rei and Asuka were having immense difficulty. Their small knives were difficult to defend with against an attack from the Lance of Longinus. They noticed Ivana was fighting all alone, and that Toji had already gone down.

Shinji was in shock. One of those blasted EVA Series had taken down his best friend from the looks of it. Ivana was holding her own. Zack was holding his own. But Rei and Asuka were having difficulty. And his EVA was out of power. He wanted to help them beat the EVA Series, but he couldn't do anything. He didn't want to run away. It was that he could do nothing but watch…

Asuka tried to get in close, but the fear of the lance kept her at bay. Rei used the chance to strike. She managed to get in close enough to stab it with her knife. She could sense that her knife was slowly penetrating the EVA's body. But then the unthinkable happened. The EVA, with its back to Rei, spun the lance around its body and stabbed Unit 00 in the chest area.

In Unit 00's entry plug, Rei grabbed her chest in pain as she could feel the lance going through Unit 00's body.

To Asuka's horror, Unit 00 went down. Although her and Rei were not always on best terms, she didn't want to fight alone. Now she was alone against the monster that used the same weapon to kill her last time.

Things were looking bad for Ivana. She had been caught off guard and took an injury along Unit 04's left arm. Her pain made her reflexes slower. So she could no longer attack with the same speed she had been fighting with. It seemed the end was inevitable.

Zack had long given up on the ax he was using and went with two progressive swords to defend himself. It was definitely easier when Toji was helping him, but now he had the EVA's undivided attention, as he used his green Unit 05 to keep blocking.

Asuka was scared. Usually, even in the tightest spots, she refused to show fear. But she couldn't even get close to the EVA. It attacked her. She desperately tried to use her knife to defend her. But it pushed the knife out of the way and kicked her flying into another mountain. She looked up. The EVA had an odd stance. It had its arm bent up and out on a 90-degree angle with the lance in hand. She realized what it was doing. **It was going to throw the lance at her and finish her off**. She froze in true fear. She couldn't move. She was going to die again.

Shinji was watching the battle in horror. First Toji, then Ivana got hurt, and now Rei is down. On top of that, Asuka is down. And that fucking EVA is about to finish her off. He let her down before during 3rd Impact. He wasn't going to run away again. He would do whatever it took. Power or no power, Asuka would not die again!

Suddenly a loud yell came over the intercom.

"ASUKA! I WON'T LET YOU DIE!"

Unit 01 roared to life once more.

The next actions were almost simultaneous. The EVA threw the lance at Asuka. She couldn't even flinch. Suddenly a purple blur appeared in front of her. It was Unit 01. As the lance flew at the two. Unit 01 caught it!

"Shinji?" Asuka called out.

There was no response. Unit 01 threw the lance right back at the EVA Series. The lance went right through it as if it were soggy paper. The EVA went down in an instant with a big gaping hole in it.

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NERV- Battle Station

"What's going on?" Ritsuko called out to her staff.

Only one reply came. "Shinji's sync ratio has hit 400!"

Ritsuko just dropped her clipboard. Misato was speechless. The EVA was coming to life again.

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Battlefield

Zack could just watch as Unit 01 tackled the EVA he was fighting. The punches Unit 01 threw at it were putting massive dents in it. With both its hands, it ripped the EVA open and ripped out the core. That EVA was dead. Unit 01 took the core, and threw it into space with tremendous force.

The last EVA took its attention off Ivana and attacked Unit 01. Unit 01 caught the lance, took it out of the EVA's grasp, and snapped it in two. It then tackled the EVA. One by one, it ripped off its limbs. And with one mighty punch, it punched through the EVA, through the core, through its back, and into the ground. Finally, the EVA Series, was dead.

Unit 01 went silent.

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Shinji this time, was found in the entry plug unconscious. Unit 01 was placed back in cryo-stasis. All other Units were under repair. Their pilots were all okay. They also took turns visiting Shinji in the hospital. Shinji woke up the next day. Surprisingly, he was given a clean bill of health. After dumbfounding everyone about his seemingly perfect health, they decided to release him from the hospital. And SEELE disappeared again. The MAGI gave the chances of SEELE one day coming back again a 96.3.

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On a Saturday in late May- Misato's apartment

Asuka was trying to understand Shinji's motives. He had rescued her from an imminent death at the hands of the EVA Series. How could one fight so viciously in an EVA yet be a lame boring kid at home? Even more, he made the EVA come to life. Twice! Once to beat the ninja EVA. The second time to save her. She learned that when he saved her, his sync ratio had hit 400 again. He must have done that because he cared. She did admit to herself that it was nice that someone out there cares.

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Zack, Shinji, Rei and Misato were talking to pass the time. Zack was talking about one of his experiences in Canada.

"Yeah. I've been to one of those balls before. They treat you like royalty."

"Even better than those parties?" asked Misato.

"Yup. The last ball I went to was the B.C. (British Columbia for those who are not familiar with Canada. Heck I don't know the U.S. that well.) Ball."

"How'd you get in?" asked Shinji who was curious.

"Simple. Look who I am. Zack Harper. Sixth Child and designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 05. I was the pride and joy of Canada. They were honoured just to have me there. My father, who's the head of a huge company, made it even easier."

Asuka came into the room and interjected. "Those balls are kind of boring, but it's an honour to be invited."

"Like the ACDC song "I Got Big Balls" says: If your name is on the guest list, no one can take you higher," Zack replied. "I'm sure you'll get invited Shinji one of these days. Heck, you saved the world."

This gave Shinji a slightly embarrassed look on his face. Suddenly the doorbell rang. So Misato answered the door. It was a man dressed in a suit.

"I'm looking for Shinji Ikari," the man said.

"I'm Shinji." Shinji got up and went to the door.

The man gave Shinji something in an envelope. And left as mysteriously as he appeared.

Shinji opened the envelope. Out came a letter. It said:

Dear Shinji Ikari,

We have heard of your great deeds. You are the one who saved mankind from imminent destruction. We would be honored if you could grace us with your presence at the Tokyo-3 ball tonight. We would also be honored if the following people could also attend:

Rei Ayanami

Asuka Sohryu

Toji Suzahara

Ivana Kharlamov

Zack Harper

Maj. M. Katsuragi

We humbly thank you for your time and hope you can be here tonight.

Sincerely, President Akagero Makamoto

"WOW! THIS IS AWESOME!" shouted Misato. "Time to PAAARRRRRTTTTAAAAYYY!"

"They sent this personally to me," said Shinji.

"See what an honour it is?" asked an excited Zack.

Misato was already at the phone. "I'll call Toji and Ivana right away!"

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3 hours later.

All the pilots and Misato got ready to go. The NERV limo had shown up and they were all excited. Zack and Shinji had to run to the department store to find suits because they didn't have any. They both bought tuxedos with the NERV budget. Toji came over wearing a suit that he found in his closet. Ivana was wearing a black dress that matched her black hair perfectly. Misato was wearing a green dress with no shoulder straps on it. Rei was wearing a pale-blue dress that also matched her hair. Asuka, well Asuka wears red. A red sleeveless dress with red gloves that went up to her elbows, along with her red shoes.

And in they got. After a 10 minute drive, they made it to the ball. An attendant came and opened their car door for them. They proceeded into the ballroom. There was even a red carpet for them to walk on. They continued on until they met a man with a checklist.

"Your names please," the man said.

"Major Katsuragi."

"Toji Suzahara."

"Rei Ayanami."

"Asuka Sohryu."

"Ivana Kharlamov."

"Zack Harper."

"Shinji Ikari."

"Ah yes. All you here are on the guest list." He looked at Shinji. "Are you THE Shinji Ikari?"

"Uh, yeah."

Everyone who heard bowed in his direction. The man spoke up again. "It is an honour to have you and your friends here tonight. Please, come right on in."

What Shinji saw was amazing. There were four large tables, arranged in a square where he assumed all the guests would sit. There were reservations, for the many people from around the world, there were some other NERV employees. One for his father. And embarrassingly, one for him.

Asuka and Misato were fascinated. They had never gone to a ball this big before.

Zack was talking with the guy who let them in. "Is Robert Harper on the list?"

The man checked and replied, "Yes. He went in already."

"Thanks."

The host, the Japanese President, motioned for everyone to sit down.

A/N: I'm already at 3,000 words, but since I want to thank everyone for all the reviews I got, I have a little treat for you all. I will extend this chapter!

The president gave a speech on how he was honoured that everyone could show up at the party. He thanked the politicians for their work in help rebuilding the world. He said Japan would continue its leadership role in that area. He then thanked Shinji Ikari personally for saving mankind from a near disaster. Shinji got a standing ovation as the President finished.

Everyone then sat down to dinner. There were foods of all sorts. From hamburgers to specially made Chinese dishes, to European dishes, and even African made specialties. They even had beverages from all over too. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Misato decided she would try the Irish Whiskey.

It was a fabulous dinner and everyone had their fill, except Toji that is. Everyone went about their ways in the ballroom. Every politician that was there spoke to Shinji. And got pictures with everyone of them. Many guys wanted to dance with Asuka, but she bluntly turned them down like she always did. Ivana did not want to dance either. Rei was just there. Zack was looking for his father, Robert. Eventually he ran into him.

"_Well, how ya doin son_?" his father asked when Zack found him.

"_Things are awesome Pops_," said Zack with a smile. "_By the way, have you found out who my mother is yet_?"

Robert hung his head. "_No we haven't Zack_. _We've managed to knock about 18 people off the list_."

"_So that leaves only 42 women then_."

"_Yup don't worry_. _We'll find out who she is_. _So you and I can thank her for giving birth to a great son_."

"_Yeah_," said Zack pumping his fist. "_By the way Pops, got any ideas to spice up this party_?"

"_Yeah I do_. _One plan is to get those two on the floor that you told me about_. _The second plan is to replace the band_. _The music is alright for this kind of atmosphere, but these old coots need to be brought out of musical ignorance_.

"_So what kind of plan do you have in mind_?"

Robert began whispering in Zack's ear and he was getting more excited by the second.

"_That's an awesome plan Pops_."

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Meanwhile, the waiters were trying to wonder how Toji could eat so much. Toji had downed 2 plates of spaghetti, 2 full sirloin steaks, 6 hamburgers, and 9 big bowls of yogurt.

Ivana had been keeping an eye on a certain man for most of the night. After she saw the way he had been looking at Shinji and everyone else, her KGB training made her quickly realize he was an assassin. So he had to be dealt with. She approached the man, seductively invited him into a bathroom stall and …

WHAM! BAM! POW! CRACK!

NERV security quickly hauled out a beaten up man found in a women's bathroom stall.

Shinji paced around the ballroom. He was alone at the moment, but he was still at peace with the happy activity. He wasn't looking where he was going when he suddenly bumped into someone. It was his father, Gendo Ikari. It was a tense moment for Shinji. Gendo was not nearly as powerful as any angel, but he gave off something that could send chills down one's spine.

He only said, "Well done," before walking off.

It was weird, but Shinji liked the fact that he received praise from his father, even he thought he was a jerk most of the time.

Suddenly, the lead singer of the band announced that they were playing a slow dance song and encouraged everyone to find a partner. Everyone scrambled around to find a partner.

Little did Shinji and Asuka know that they were the victims of Zack and his father's scheme. Suddenly and simultaneously they were "accidentally" pushed into each other. (It was planned so well it may as well been an accident to anyone else who saw it.)

Suddenly Asuka ended up in Shinji's arms.

"Sorry Asuka. Someone pushed me."

"Great. And now I can't leave the floor without looking like a fool. You'd better dance well Third Child, or you're a dead man," said Asuka with a very threatening tone.

Asuka put her arms around Shinji's neck. And Shinji put his arms around her waist. And they began to dance to the music.

To Asuka's surprise, Shinji was rather good. His form was almost flawless. "Hey, dingbat, when'd you learn to dance?" she whispered.

"Zack taught me a few moves, but most of it is self-taught I guess," replied Shinji. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing. Your skin is safe for the moment."

They continued to dance. Shinji looked around. Rei was talking with Toji, who was too shy to dance. He noticed Misato was watching too. Zack was seen having a dance with Ivana. Zack was careful not to try anything funny or get flipped again.

Asuka let her head rest on his shoulder. 'He may be an idiot,' she thought. 'But he's my idiot.'

Asuka's resting her head on his chest made Shinji flush. He couldn't tell if Asuka was teasing him, or if she liked him, or was just plain tired. Regardless, he had to keep going until she wanted to stop otherwise not make it home in one piece.

Suddenly, most of the lights went out. And one big spotlight flashed down upon Asuka and Shinji. They both looked very embarrassed.

The band leader took this moment to speak. "Well what do you know. You two make quite a couple! Give us another dance you two!"

Shinji and Asuka reluctantly decided to have another dance with cheers from the crowd.

Misato could only watch from a distance, as she saw the magic taking place on the dance floor. 'If only Asuka could realize how he feels about her,' thought Misato.

After about 4 minutes, the song ended, and the pair got a standing ovation from the crowd.

Later, some people came and shoved the band members offstage. Then another person came up to the mike and made an announcement. "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be a change in musicians. So let's give a big hand to DMX Jr!"

A rapper came on stage. Music started playing. DMX Jr. began rapping the song "Party Up". He only got through 90 seconds of the song before security hauled him off stage.

Later as the party went on, Misato got into a drinking contest with some guy she bumped into at the party. They were both funneling beer from two large kegs.

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"

The crowd roared into cheers as Misato finished off the keg. Her opponent couldn't do it. So now Misato was piss-eyed drunk again.

It was 1:30am. They had been there for 5 hours. They got in their limo. Zack said goodbye to his father, and had the limo driver take Toji and Ivana home. When they got to their complex, they realized the elevator was under maintenance. So that meant Zack and Shinji had to help a totally drunk Misato, get up the stairs. Anyone would have found it slightly odd that 3 men in black suits were following them.

Suddenly Misato threw up on the floor. Zack turned around to face the security. "Yo. Is any one of you a certified janitor?"

One of them stepped forward. "Yes I am, Pilot Harper." He took out a card that certified he was qualified as a NERV janitor. "I'll clean this mess up." He cleaned it up in 49 seconds!

Finally, they got to their apartment and got in the door. The door closed behind them. One guard said to the others, "Men. Our work here is done for now."

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Inside Misato's apartment 2:00am

Zack and Shinji got Misato into her room. She passed out instantly. Everyone changed into some nightclothes. The four sat on couches. (Take note that Shinji and Asuka are on the same 3 seat couch while Rei is on a single and Zack is sitting on the floor. They talked for a bit, while Shinji listened to his SDAT player. Rei was the first to get up.

"I will retire for the night. Good night." She went into her room and shut the door.

Zack followed her lead. "Yeah. Same here. I'm calling it in. G'night everyone."

Shinji had his eyes closed He was laid out on the couch. Suddenly he felt a weight on his side. He opened his eyes and nearly choked on his breath. Asuka was sleeping on top of him! She must have passed out from pure exhaustion! She had her head rested on his chest, and had her arms somewhat wrapped around him.

"Uh, Zack? A little help here," said a desperate Shinji.

Zack came out to see what the problem was. "Ah, need a little help I see. You're not in a very comfortable position there. No problem. I got just the remedy." He went back into his room and brought out a pillow. "Here put your head under this. My only advice to you is to not try anything funny with her while she sleeps. In the movies, when the guy wants to make his moves on a girl, she wakes up and he looks like a fool. If Asuka starts doing anything, don't resist it. Even if it's a little gross. The last thing you want to do is prematurely wake the Devil-Incarnate from her sleeping bliss. G'night Shinji. Sleep tight. Don't let Asuka bite!"

Now Shinji was petrified. Asuka began to talk in her sleep. "Shinji… Shinji… don't make me wait…"

It was going to be a very LONG night for the Third Child.

A/N: Well. I got 4,700 words in for this chapter. I hope you all liked it. And Shinji's troubles will continue into the next morning/chapter. Will he survive? R&R people! Be cool!


	8. Strange Predicaments

A/N: I was told the last chapter was rushed. The thing is, ideas are not very good at staying in my mind. So I put them down as fast as I can. So I'll try to develop as fast as I can. I go fast because of lack of memory/creativity.

Now on with the story!

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Next Morning

Shinji Ikari woke up on the couch. He checked the time. It was only 6:30am. He still felt Asuka's weight on his body. He noticed with great shock that Asuka had moved farther up his body while she was sleeping. She now had her cheek pressed against his!

'I'm dead for sure," he thought. 'She'll immediately jump to a conclusion the minute she wakes up.'

He could do nothing. So he tried to go back to sleep. But to no avail. Asuka kept moving around so it was impossible for him to sleep again. She had been sleep-talking most of the night too. Sleep talking about him and herself. He maybe got 3 hours of sleep. So he just sighed and let the time pass by.

To make time go by, he thought about everything that had happened since he began fighting the angels. There was his very odd meeting with Misato, his father, piloting Unit 01 for the first time, Ayanami, the first meeting with Asuka, the synchronization training, Asuka's lesson on thermal expansion, her magma dive, that kiss…

When he really thought about it, he had spent a lot of time with Asuka. Sometimes he wondered to himself why he put up with all her insults, slaps, punches, and anything else she could do to put him down. He basically assumed he loved her. And maybe she did too. She would never admit it out loud to ANYONE. But Misato once told him that the sub-conscious can reveal the truth about an individual, whether they like it or not.

Shinji checked the time again. It was 7:30am. He heard a door open. It was Rei.

"Good morning Pilot Ikari," she said as she made her way into the kitchen.

"G-good morning Rei," said Shinji. Suddenly Asuka began to stir. In desperation, he shut right back up.

Zack was soon to follow. He could only look at Shinji and laugh. He also then went into the kitchen.

Shinji was hungry. But he couldn't get up because Asuka was on top of him, and he did not want to take a chance at waking up. He then noticed Misato coming out of her room, with a very familiar feeling. Yes! She was hung over again! 10 seconds later…

"YYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Uh Misato. For Shinji's sake, think you could keep it down?"

"Why Zack?"

"Come here, I'll show you."

Shinji assumed Zack was going to lead Misato back to the TV room to see Shinji in his latest predicament. Misato looked surprised at first. But when she saw Shinji's look of distress on his face, she was trying to hold in the laugh.

Misato spoke up shaking off the laugh. "Okay. I have to go to NERV and take care of some stuff. Zack and Rei. Here's a grocery list. Go down to the store and get everything on the list." She handed them a list. "And as for you Shinji. Good luck," she said with a wink." She went to her room, got dressed quickly, and left.

Zack took this chance to speak up next. "Well Shinji, as much as I'd love to help, waking an ill-tempered girl is not on my list of priorities. Laters."

Rei did not say anything and followed Zack to the grocery store.

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Streets of Tokyo-3

Zack was now laughing out loud because they were long out of range and he thought it was fun to watch Shinji squirm as he tries everything possible not to wake up Asuka. Rei was observing their shopping list. After reading the list, she chose to ask Zack about Shinji and Asuka's odd relationship.

"Pilot Harper. Why does Pilot Sohryu sleep with Pilot Ikari? I thought they were not on very good terms."

Zack tried his best to explain. "Well you see, Asuka always pretends to be really tough and cruel. But when push comes to shove, you notice she gives up and takes off. If you look at her hard enough, you can see a scared little girl in need of love behind all those walls she has put up."

"Walls?"

"Emotional walls to protect herself from harm or rejection of love. She craves for any kind of love. That's why she sleepwalked to get the Shinji doll and that's why she's sleeping on top of him on the couch. Her sub-conscious craves the love that she probably has never had. As for Shinji, he probably wants to get closer to Asuka, but she usually pushes him away. And every time Asuka advances on him, he gets scared because the girl that's rejecting him is coming closer to him, so he doesn't know how to react."

Rei was content with the answer they got. She concluded that love was a very strange and mysterious feeling. She did not have any more time to ponder her thoughts as they had arrived at the grocery store.

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Back at Misato's apartment

Shinji was still having no luck with Asuka getting off him. He checked the time. It was 8:30am. He thought he would never get out of this alive.

But then, he had an odd feeling in his nose. He knew what was going to happen in about 10 seconds! SNEEZE! The vibration resulting from that would definitely wake Asuka!

"AHCHOO!"

He was right. Asuka began stirring. And she yawned. He pretended to be sleeping.

Asuka yawned as she woke up. She at first realized she wasn't in her room. She figured that she must have passed out last night. She then realized where she was! On top of Shinji!

'He must have done this to me!' she immediately thought. But then she quickly realized she was so on top of him that he couldn't move, otherwise wake her up. She noticed he was still sleeping. 'Well, I gotta admit, he wasn't a bad dancer. He may be an idiot. But he's my idiot. I gotta shower!' Without further hesitation, she decided to take a shower.

Shinji breathed a sigh of relief. Six hours in the belly of the beast, or in his case, six hours with the beast on top of him were finally over. He got up, and went into the kitchen. Checking his ingredients, and his cravings, French toast became the Second and Third Child's breakfast that morning.

"I wonder how Zack and Rei are doing?" he said aloud. He shrugged his shoulders. Zack could turn any bad situation into a good one. He just had to watch his mouth.

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Grocery Store

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT COSTS THAT MUCH?" Zack was getting into an argument with the store manager in the grocery store. Apparently, Zack did not like the price on the kind of meat he was supposed to buy. "I could give my guardian's car a lube job at a price like that? How the fuck do you stay in business?"

Now the store manager was angry and stepped in. "Young man. I don't care if you're an EVA Pilot or not. You will calm down or else."

"Or else what?"

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Outside the store

"You fucking son of a bitch!" shouted Zack at the manager. A bunch of security guards had come at the manager's order and escorted Zack back outside. "Wait till I tell NERV! Then you will be sorry _asshole_!" Turns to look at Rei. "Alright Rei. You'll have to finish our shopping. I'll wait here and help you carry the bags. If anyone gives you trouble, I'll come running."

"Understood. But I doubt it will be necessary." She went back inside.

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NERV HQ

Misato was feeling pretty embarrassed as she watched the NERV cameras. It was Ritsuko who originally suggested she come look at it. The cameras were showing Zack mouth off at some people in the grocery store, only to get thrown out and have Rei do all the work. Rei had come out 25 minutes later with a ton of bags in her hands. Zack took half the bags she was carrying and they both walked home. She had come in to do her usual procedures. (What she does is classified to us commoners) Later today, the kids would come in for their sync tests. And then she planned to go visit Kaji. Ritsuko had told her that Kaji had just come back from being overseas and Misato was just dying to see him again.

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Later that day

Ritsuko Akagi was doing another procedural sync test with the six EVA pilots. Many would guess that nothing would go wrong as they were all in the best form they could be in. But, when it came down to crunching the numbers, if one number did not turn in your favour, it could be catastrophic.

"Well, well. Not bad. Asuka and Toji's sync levels have gone back up," said the doctor.

Misato wanted to know how they did. "So what are their scores?"

"Rei is at 75. Asuka is back up to 61. Shinji's score is 86. Toji is doing better, but still not great. He's at 47. Ivana and Zack hold strong at 71."

"By the way. Is Unit 01 out of cryo-stasis yet?"

Ritsuko shrugged. "Not for another 3 days. Or if we have to go to 3rd Stage Alert." She went back over to the mike. "Okay kids. We're done now."

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Outside NERV

The kids were walking home. Misato had gone back to Kaji's. (I think we all know why she went there. And since this fic is T-rated, I'll stay away from Kaji's place for now) They had already passed by Toji's house and he had gone home. Now it was just the others. So Zack had decided to test how Asuka felt about Shinji. "Hey Asuka. How are you and Shinji coming along?"

Asuka was of course angry because of the content of the question. "Why would I want anything to do with that spineless wimp?" Pointing at Shinji, "He's a poor excuse for a male!"

Asuka had quickly overlooked two things with her blunt reply. She failed to realize Zack's hand was a little better than her hand. Zack took this moment to expose Asuka's alleged jealousy.

"So Ivana. What did you and Shinji talk about the other day? You know, a couple days before we fought the EVA Series.

Ivana was quick to catch on. She spoke proudly and somewhat boastfully in her thick Russian accent. "Ah, we talked about lots of things. We talked about relationships, emotions, what it would take to be in one, our future hopes and dreams. All sorts of things along that line."

Now Asuka was angry. To everyone's surprise, she made another outburst without thinking. "Stay away from my idiot you bitch!"

Zack was convinced now. "Come on Asuka, you know it better than we do! You LOVE Shinji!"

Her reply was blunt. "How could I ever love that useless turnip? I can't stand him!" And with that she stormed off towards home.

Shinji was speechless and slightly embarrassed that he was used as a catalyst to test Asuka's thoughts.

'Just as I expected,' Zack thought. 'Very possessive and in constant denial.'

They had passed by Ivana's complex. She waved goodbye and went home. This only left Zack, Shinji, and Rei to walk the rest of the way home. It was a fairly silent walk home.

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Some time later. Now Early June (Time to fast forward time!)

Because of 3rd Impact, the kids were let out of school early for the year. Their report cards had come in to Misato. She looked them over, curious to see how her kids were doing.

A/N: I will only report grade averages. Use your imagination about what they got in each class.

Ayanami, Rei: 93

Harper, Zack: 85

Ikari, Shinji: 69

Sohryu, Asuka: 75 (Asuka said she had trouble writing and learning what all the letters meant anyway)

Misato quickly decided the kids were off the hook for any bad punishment that could take place for anyone unfortunate to have low grades. Shinji and Asuka had been through a hell that no one else could have or should have gone through.

She pondered the past few weeks. It had been same old, same old. Rei being silent unless spoken to. Shinji listening to his SDAT, or taking tough-guy lessons from Zack. They were paying off, as Shinji was more confident than he was before. Zack was either training Shinji, sparring with Ivana when she came over, or trying to piss off Asuka, with many successes. And Asuka, who was still a basket case. That girl had real conflicting thoughts, so you could never tell if she was really happy, or sad or just right out angry.

Shinji still though, despite his training, you could tell he was easily depressed. Asuka had pulled another cruel move on Shinji. She had rejected him again. She told him she was downright sick of him, and how pathetic he was after he tried asking her out again.

A/N: Watching Asuka be cruel to Shinji is not fun to read. So the psycho-bitch will not get a scene with her rejecting Shinji for the umpteenth time!

Suddenly, the really loud citywide alarm went off. Everyone knew what this was to mean. Time to race down to NERV! (Zack is in the lead, followed by Asuka, Shinji and Rei. Misato crashed her car and is far behind.)

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NERV -Battle station

The NERV people could not believe what they were seeing. It was something that looked like an EVA. At first they thought it was the EVA Series, but better reports proved otherwise.

Ritsuko put all the information they had into the MAGI to see what the three supercomputers would come up with. She was shocked at the results. "I don't believe this. It's the Jet Alone!"

"How can that be?" asked a very confused Misato. If it was the Jet Alone, it meant bad news. The Jet Alone was equipped with a nuclear reactor. Destroying it in Tokyo-3 would mean total annihilation of the city.

"Go to Second Stage Alert," came the Commander's monotone order. Suddenly Gendo's desk phone rang. After 1 ring, he answered the phone.

A/N: Gonna use script format for a second to record this call.

Gendo: What.

: Am I speaking with Commander Gendo Ikari?

Gendo: I'm busy. What is it?

: It's the President of Japan. Someone hacked our computers and took control of the Jet Alone Mk II! We have no control over that thing! They intend to use it to destroy Tokyo-3!

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NERV- EVA launching bay

Misato was briefing the pilots on the Jet Alone. "Okay. This time, it's not walking aimlessly. It's being controlled by an outside source, so it CAN fight back. We must intercept it before it reaches Tokyo-3. It's coming from Tokyo-2. We'll intercept it here. (Points at a point on a map. 55 miles outside Tokyo-3) There are umbilical cables there, so you will have more than 5 minutes to stop it."

"So who's going on this mission?" asked Zack.

"We've decided that Shinji, Asuka, and Rei will go and intercept at the 55-mile mark and try to stop it from advancing while our hackers try to stop it. Toji, Ivana and Zack will wait at the 50-mile mark. If the Jet Alone gets to the 50-mile mark, you are to destroy it, and take the chance of a nuclear disaster."

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55 miles outside Tokyo-3

Asuka was thinking again. A very large portion of her mind told her that she couldn't stand Shinji. But a small portion of her mind said he's not the bad guy she's making him out to be. She had to snap back to reality.

"I gotta concentrate! I can't stand that idiot anyway! He's done nothing for me besides whatever is for lunch!" She looked ahead. "There's that stupid Jet Alone thingy!"

Ahead of them was the Jet Alone. It was approaching them slowly. Rei decided to shoot it with the positron rifle she was holding. The shots were well placed and would have hit home, but it was completely unharmed!

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NERV- Battle station

Shigeru read back the data he had. "AT Field detected! The Jet Alone has an AT Field!"

"No way!" Misato was shocked. It was just a giant robot with a nuclear reactor. How could it have an AT Field?"

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Battlefield -55 miles outside Tokyo-3

Asuka had engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the robot. Their orders were not to destroy it, but keep it at bay, until NERV could hack into its programming and shut it off. To Asuka's surprise, the robot fought rather well for being a stupid looking piece of junk.

Shinji was to watch Asuka's back should she take a hit and go down. Rei was to fire shots at it every now and then with the rifle. The shots weren't powerful enough to destroy it, but the shells could still stop it in its tracks. And buy the NERV hacking crew the time it needed to shut down this terror.

"Dammit you bastard! Stop fighting!" said a frustrated Asuka.

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NERV - Battle Station

"We haven't been able to hack its programming yet," said a member of a team of technicians responsible for trying to hack into the Jet Alone. "Even with the passcodes, we cannot access it. The codes have all been changed."

Gendo stood up. "This is obviously SEELE's work. Get out of the way. I will shut down this walking meltdown."

Everyone watched as the Commander walked over to where the technicians were. Gendo sat in front of a computer and began trying to access the Jet Alone's program. He typed at a furious speed, doing his all to save Tokyo-3 (or just himself). The technicians were given the boost of confidence they needed by watching their commander in action. They went back to their computers and redoubled their efforts.

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Battlefield

Asuka was getting tired. But there was no way she would yield to Shinji. That defeat would nearly be as bad as the 15th Angel. She doubled her efforts to continue the struggle of girl (bitch) vs. machine.

To her surprise, it suddenly countered Asuka's punch and kicked her Unit 02 flying. It crashed into a mountain.

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NERV- Battle Station

Gendo continued to type away. Ritsuko's staff were observing the battle.

"We're picking up a high concentration of energy coming from the Jet Alone! It's an extremely power laser cannon!" said Makoto. "It's got enough power to penetrate her AT Field!"

"No! Asuka!" shouted Misato.

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Battlefield

Asuka looked at the target. It's right arm had changed into a laser cannon. In an instant, the Jet Alone Mk II fired its cannon at her. She flinched, waiting for the impact and what would probably be an extreme amount of pain and a burning sensation.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes. She did not see the Jet Alone. She saw a giant purple thing. She quickly realized it was Shinji and Unit 01! Shinji was going to take the hit for her!

The only thing anyone could hear was a boy screaming in extreme pain.


	9. Enter the Light and the Dark!

A/N: Okay. I wanted to do these two chapters in a row. I've had a hard day with work, and I don't want to look like I'm taking out any frustration on the readers. This chapter may look like it has nothing to do with the last one. But you will just have to read on and all shall be made clear. I hope. WARNING! This is an angst filled chapter!

Now as I always say, now on with the story!

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Asuka opened her eyes. She was confused. The last thing she remembered was fighting the Jet Alone. And she was about to get blasted by its laser cannon! And that idiot Shinji jumped in the way of the blast. She heard his nearly inhuman scream and then she must have blacked out.

But as she looked around, she didn't see no EVA, no inside her entry plug, no hospital room even. All she saw was complete darkness. But strangely enough, she could see herself just fine.

"Where am I?" she decided to shout in frustration.

A voice chose to speak up. "Do you wish to escape your predicament?"

"Who the HELL are you?"

"The only way through is to find your true path. And to do that is to find your true self."

"What kind of answer is that?" she started to ask. But suddenly, what looked like a city appeared in the distance. Quickly assuming that place may have some clues as to how to get out of whatever she was in, she chose to go to the city.

She did not recognize what city it was. For all she could conclude, it was just a random city. Strange as it was, the city dwellers did not notice that she was wearing her red plugsuit.

She continued to pace along. The city was any normal city. Lively, people bustling about. Cars, vendors, advertisements. She wondered what could be so mysterious about this place.

Something ticked in her mind. It told her to go in a certain direction. She followed the sense until it led her to a photo booth. Photos reminded her of how beautiful she was and how she made sure everyone knew she was beautiful.

"This sense I suddenly got thinks just like me," she said aloud, trying to stay optimistic in this odd place she was in.

Suddenly she felt something in her hand. It was a 100-yen coin. And the photo booth said on the side: 100 yen for 3 photos!

She thought this was quite an odd coincidence. So she decided to enter the photo booth and insert the coin into the slot. She figured that if she followed the signs, she was being given, it would lead her closer to getting out of her predicament. She smiled for the camera.

POOF! POOF! POOF!

She walked out of the booth and waited for the machine to spit up her pictures. After 3 minutes, it did so. She couldn't wait to take a look at herself and her beautiful figure.

The first picture was as good as she expected of herself. She took a look at the second picture, as she shuffled to the next photo.

What she saw horrified her. The second picture was her alright. But however, in the second picture, her plugsuit was black and red instead of red and black. And she sensed… evil coming from the photo she saw.

She shuffled to the third photo. She was in even greater shock. The third photo was a childlike version of herself!

Another voice could be heard. "Well, well. What do you think Asuka? Nice eh?"

Asuka was now fairly scared. "Who are you? And what do you want."

The voice replied. It sounded like Asuka, but with a tone of evil in the voice. "I've been here the whole time. I'm part of you, as you are a part of me. The Asuka with the black plugsuit appeared in front of her. "I represent the darkness that exists in your heart."

"Then does this mean…" she said looking at the younger version of herself.

"Yes it is true." The child-Asuka appeared in front of Asuka with the dark-Asuka. "I represent the light that exists in your heart."

"What do you two know about me," asked Asuka.

A/N: I will be calling the child Asuka: Hikari-Asuka as Hikari means light in Japanese. No this has nothing to do with the evil class rep. And the dark Asuka will be Yami-Asuka as Yami means darkness. No I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh either! (Whew! That was close. They almost got me with a subpoena!)

"I know everything about you," said Yami-Asuka. "Your hopes, feelings, dreams, and your fears."

"So what?" said a dumbfounded Asuka.

"I'm here to warn you," said Hikari-Asuka. "If you continue on the path you are currently going on, you will fall into a world of darkness and despair."

Yami-Asuka spoke up again. "And that's exactly where you'll be heading as long as I am in charge! I've guided you through every dark decision you have made. And that little brat guides you through your very few good decisions."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"Everything! The reason you are going to fall into darkness is because of what a bitch you have been to everyone around you. Especially the one you call Shinji Ikari or That Stupid Idiot," explained Yami-Asuka. "Let's take a look into your past and you'll see."

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Flashback - UN Carrier Over the Rainbow

The three incarnations that made up Asuka watched the scene unfold before them. This was when Shinji Ikari, Kensuke Aida, and Toji Suzahara met Asuka for the first time. What happened was the wind blew Asuka's dress up, revealing her panties. The result was a slap in the face for each of the boys. (I think the viewing fee was overpriced, but Toji gave way too much change back in my opinion.)

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"That incident was an accident Asuka," said Hikari-Asuka. "You immediately mistook them for the nice people they actually were or could have been."

"I did that?" asked a surprised Asuka.

"Yes. They originally had no intention of engaging in acts of perversion."

"Yet you jumped to conclusions. And now Kensuke and Toji have virtually shut any good of you out of their lives," said the dark incarnation. "And soon Shinji will do the same. Soon he'll be calling you the Devil-Incarnate!"

"NO! He wouldn't do that!" said an upset Asuka.

"Yes he will! It's only a matter of time! Let's visit another scene!"

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Flashback

They now watch Asuka and Shinji's synchronization training for the 7th Angel. They watch as Shinji makes his mistakes, and Asuka berates him for it. But when Asuka made mistakes, Shinji did not argue. This point was proven further that when Rei Ayanami did the drills, Rei and Shinji almost synchronized perfectly.

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"You see Asuka. You were making many more mistakes than Shinji was. Yet your pride made you blame Shinji. In truth, it was you who made the majority of the mistakes," said Hikari-Asuka.

"I can't believe it. Shinji and Rei are just thickheaded dorks. They're just stupid and that's how they synchronized so well."

"There you go again," said Yami-Asuka. "Blaming everyone else for your own failures. Things like this are what creates the darkness in your heart. We shall visit another scene to prove this point even further."

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Flashback- A sync Test

Shinji's confidence was slowly rising. So was his sync ratio. It was rapidly catching up to Asuka's whose sync score was higher at the time. Ritsuko congratulated Shinji on his results, because he was improving. And the only thing Asuka did was shut him down. AGAIN.

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"Once again, you put down Shinji just as he was starting to get some self-confidence. All for the sake of keeping your greedy, bitchy self on top," said Yami-Asuka. "You made it seem to him that it was bad to do good at anything."

"Shinji had no intention of competing with you," said Hikari-Asuka. "He hated piloting EVA, and had no intention of trying to beat you at all. All he wanted was people to appreciate what he was doing, so he always tried his best."

"Shut up! That stupid dork had it coming! Always trying to be the martyr and be all noble!" said a slowly cracking Asuka.

"You insult him yet again," said Yami-Asuka in a calm voice. "You still fail to understand the true damage you have been inflicting through your experiences with this boy."

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Flashback- Misato's house

Shinji and Asuka are alone in the house. Asuka is bored. So she asks Shinji if he wants to kiss her. He doesn't want to at first. But Asuka coaxes him into kissing her by attacking his mentality of not running away. Desperately proving he will not run away, he tried to call her on. They kiss. Asuka appears to be enjoying it. But Shinji breaks it off, gasping for air. Asuka used this chance to flee while she "still had her dignity" to the bathroom. A while later, Misato and Kaji come into the apartment. Asuka learns the harsh truth about Kaji and Misato. Shinji goes to see why she's upset. She blames Shinji and the kiss for why she was so upset to hide her own sadness.

"That was a cruel thing you did," said Hikari-Asuka. "That was one of the lowest times you have ever sunk in your life to satisfy your own desires."

"That was really pathetic," chuckled Yami-Asuka. "That makes me laugh. How despicable of a person you are. You used the crush he had on you to satisfy your own personal desires. You could probably be as bad as Misato in this department."

Asuka was breaking. Fast. "SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING!

Yami-Asuka raised an eyebrow. "We are you. We know everything. Past. Present. And what is to come."

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NERV Hospital

Misato was worried about Shinji. His EVA Unit took a very bad hit in that battle from the Jet Alone Mk II. The laser blast managed to melt down Unit 01's chest plate to the 8th layer. The temperature of that beam was 5000-degrees Celsius. She almost wanted to smack Shinji for being so reckless. But then again, if Shinji didn't step in the way, Asuka would have been fried for sure. If it wasn't for Gendo's wonder hacking too, the Jet Alone would have fried Shinji, Asuka, and Rei. It was amazing. Gendo appeared to have computer skills that were way out of even Ritsuko's league. The robot ceased to work after he was through with it. The nuclear reactor was removed, and Zack and Toji destroyed the robot when they saw what it did to Shinji.

Strangely enough Asuka had blacked out too. Her injuries weren't as bad. Perhaps it was the psychological effect of seeing Shinji defend her despite all the shit he takes from her.

"Damn! That Shinji is something else, I swear!"

Misato checked in with the doctors. It had been 5 hours since the battle. Shinji was just coming to. Asuka was still out though strangely.

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NERV Hospital Room 506 - 30 minutes later

Shinji had woken up 30 minutes ago. Rei Ayanami briefed him on everything that had occurred from that battle up to this point. Shinji was amazed that his father personally stopped the Jet Alone. Rei also told him Asuka was still out cold. This boggled Shinji. Not even the doctors could explain it.

Shortly afterwards, Misato came in. She was glad that he was okay. He asked her about Asuka's condition. She couldn't give him an answer. He asked if he could go see her. Misato ordered a wheelchair and Rei wheeled him down to room 530.

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Asuka's Mind

Asuka could not believe everything she was being told. Was she a cruel, heartless bitch who only cared about herself? She watched as another flashback was played before her eyes.

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Flashback- After the 15th Angel

What Asuka, Hikari-Asuka, and Yami-Asuka see is the aftermath of the defeat of the 15th Angel. This angel forced Asuka to remember memories she had buried deep in her mind. Because of the mental contamination, Asuka was placed in quarantine. Shinji came and told her that he was glad that she was okay. Asuka told him that she hated him, almost right after.

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"How could you do that?" asked Hikari-Asuka.

"You must truly enjoy being evil to have done something like that," said Yami-Asuka.

"I'm not evil!" shouted Asuka.

"But you are evil," replied Yami-Asuka. "You enjoy the acts of evil you commit. You get a great euphoria from your twisted actions."

"Look you copy-cat bitch! I'm not evil!" Tears were now beginning to well in her eyes.

"And to think he loves someone like you. And you hate his guts. And just like so many others, he will have had enough of your evil and hate you as well. Then you will be all alone in that household."

"STOP IT! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

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NERV Hospital- Room 530

Asuka suddenly shot up in bed, breathing heavily. 'Was that a dream? It felt very real!' She looked around. She quickly realized that she was back in the NERV Hospital. She saw Shinji sitting in a wheelchair by her bedside. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. Had she really done all those horrible things?

They just sat there in complete silence for about a minute. Finally, Shinji decided to speak first. "Hey Asuka. I'm glad you're okay. You had me worried."

She looked at him and gasped. After all the shit she put him through, he was still kind to her and cared about her well-being! Tears began to well up in her eyes again. She curled into a ball on her bed and broke down crying. Shinji decided to leave her alone and wheeled himself out of the room.

Asuka cried for a good 20-30 minutes. She cried for all the truly horrible things she had done. For all the things she wished she had done instead. When she stopped crying, she had come to a solemn decision.

"No matter what, my dark side must be eliminated."


	10. Asuka vs Asuka

A/N: This is it! This is where Asuka decides to destroy her darker side! Will she succeed? Or will she be consumed by the darkness? Read and find out!

On another note, there will be another Yu-Gi-Oh crossover. No characters or anything. You'll see what I mean. I disclaimed Yu-Gi-Oh in Chapter 9, so I won't say it again.

NERV Hospital - Cafeteria

Shinji was thinking over what happened in the NERV Hospital's cafeteria. He had gone to tell Asuka that he was glad she was okay. She was out cold at the time. But suddenly she had woken up, as if she woke up from a bad dream. He told her what he planned to tell her. But then she had looked at him for a moment, and then she suddenly broke down crying. He decided to leave her alone and wheeled himself out of the room. Zack had asked what happened, but he told Zack that it was not his business to know. Zack understood and offered to push him to the cafeteria. Shinji accepted. Now Zack was ordering their lunch and Shinji was left to his thoughts.

'What is happening to Asuka?' he wondered. It was definitely out of character for Asuka to be crying for any reason. He concluded that he still didn't know Asuka as well as he thought. 'Maybe something happened during the battle?'

Zack came back. He had ordered Shinji a bacon cheeseburger, some fries, and a vanilla milkshake. Zack ordered for himself four hamburgers, lots of fries, and three chocolate milkshakes.

"Got enough food?" asked Shinji as he was surprised at how much Zack had ordered for himself."

"This hospital has good food, unlike every other hospital I've been to. And if the food is good, I will take full advantage of it," said Zack. "Oh yeah. Rei said you defended Asuka despite the shit she gave you prior to the battle. How do ya do it? Hell, if she put me through all that, I'm not sure if I could just protect her"

Shinji bowed his head down. "I don't know. I guess there's some things that can't be explained."

"Well if you don't want to explain, then I'll respect your choice on this matter. You seem to defend those regardless of who they are. Anyway, you and Asuka will be released from the hospital I heard later today. That's what Misato told me anyway."

This brought a smile back on Shinji's face. "That's good to hear."

"Yup. Now let's eat before the food gets cold."

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NERV HQ- Misato's Office

Misato was going over the reports on Asuka and Shinji. Shinji had taken a really nasty hit. But the conclusion was that he was bracing for it and saw it coming resulted in him not being badly hurt. Shinji had then been briefed by Ayanami on what had happened, and then wheeled over to Asuka's room.

'Damn girl. He cares for her and she treats him like shit.'

The next part of the report had shocked her. Asuka woke up as if she had woken up from a bad dream. Shinji told her that he was glad she was okay. Asuka then broke down crying. Crying? Asuka had never been crying to the extent that the report was saying. Misato could only hope that Asuka would make it through this phase.

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Asuka's Mind

Asuka had fallen asleep. Quickly, she realized she was back in that mysterious city. She knew why she was here. To either exile, or destroy Yami-Asuka. She walked around looking like she was on a warpath. She had no luck while searching the downtown area. She had asked people if they had seen someone who looked like herself but wearing a black plugsuit. But they told her no.

Her search took her to a stadium. A baseball game was in process. She asked security there if they saw a person that looked like her. She was told no and then was offered baseball tickets (At a reasonable price too). She declined of course. Asuka could not be distracted from her one-woman mission.

Asuka's next stop was the city library. She looked down every section of books. Sci-Fi, Horror, Drama, Comedy, Kids, and even the encyclopedia section. No sign of the dark incarnation anywhere.

Out of frustration and exhaustion from going to all those places, she decided to take a rest in the park. While sitting on one of the benches, she saw a child playing all by herself in the sandbox. There was something about this child that made her stand out from the other children. Then she realized it was her light incarnation! Hikari-Asuka!

She approached the child. Hikari-Asuka turned in her direction as if she sensed Asuka was coming towards her. They were now about 3 metres apart when Hikari-Asuka broke the silence.

"I knew you would come back."

"So what of it?"

The child had a question for her. "I have a question for you? How do you really feel about Shinji Ikari?"

The question had caught Asuka off guard. "What do you mean by that?"

The child seemed more determined. "Just between us, without the darker one here. How do you feel about him?"

"Uhh well. I don't know. I'm not an expert in these kinds of things! I don't really care!"

Hikari-Asuka looked harder at Asuka. "Then why did you crave his attention? And why do you get jealous when you think of him with another girl?"

"I don't know…"

"Are you afraid of your feelings?"

"I'm not weak! I don't want to be weak! Love is weakness."

"To show someone you love them takes strength Asuka," the child said. "Shinji has used a lot of his emotional strength to tell you he loves you. But his strength is fading. And soon, he will be exhausted trying to get through to you."

Asuka was silent as her seemingly younger self told her what she could not even tell herself.

"I understand," said Asuka. "I do love that twit. It's just that… I don't want…"

"To be rejected?"

Asuka's head bowed down. "Yes. I'm afraid of being rejected. I did like him, but after everything I did, I couldn't tell him because I was so mean to him. He'd have every reason in the world and beyond to just tell me to screw off."

Hikari-Asuka smiled. "But you are a lucky girl Asuka. I know Shinji is willing to forgive you for everything you've done. He can see past your tough exterior and see who you really are. All you need to do is tell him."

Asuka began to smile again. "Thank you, my light. But now I have something more important to do at the moment, regardless of whether or not Shinji will forgive me. Where is you-know-who?"

A frown came to the child's face. "I was afraid you might ask. I wanted to try and bring you two together without her interference, but I guess there is no other way. The one you seek is at the movie theatre. She's in cinema 7, fifth aisle."

"Thank you," Asuka said again. "I will get rid of her."

"I warn you Asuka. She's very powerful. More powerful than Tabris, the 17th Angel. If you lose, you will lose your heart and spirit, and your lack of heart and spirit will eventually destroy you."

"Don't worry about a thing. I am the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu! Since you are a part of the Great Me, you should have a little more faith! I'll be back. I promise you… and him."

And with that, the redhead went off to the movie theatre. After 5 minutes of walking, she arrived at her destination. Strangely enough, the people that used to be here had mysteriously disappeared. This did not stop everyone's favourite German from finding her shadow. She checked the floor plan the theatre. She quickly found where Cinema 7 was. And she immediately went in its direction.

At last she arrived at Cinema 7. 'What kind of movie was playing?' she thought. So, she entered. A movie was playing all right. It was a movie about her and all the bad moments in her life that she had so regretted doing.

Then she heard the loud chewing of popcorn, followed by a loud, girl's laugh. She looked down to the fifth aisle from the bottom. In the middle of that aisle, there was the theatre's lone occupant, and her target: Yami-Asuka!

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NERV Hospital- Room 530

"That's very odd. She has fallen unconscious once more," said Ritsuko. Asuka's case had been a strange one. Since Commander Ikari wanted to make sure Asuka would live, Ritsuko was specifically assigned to make sure she would survive this incident. Even Ritsuko was dumbfounded at how Asuka would black out during the battle, and then black out once more afterwards. She let Shinji come and visit again, thinking that the fact that he was there may boost Asuka's chances at recovering.

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NERV - Commander Ikari's Office

"Why have you ordered Dr. Akagi to watch over the Second Child?" asked Vice-Commander Fuyutski.

"We cannot afford to lose any EVA pilots," replied Gendo Ikari.

The Vice-Commander quickly understood why. Obviously his former student wanted the best medics available for the pilots. Suddenly Gendo spoke again.

"If we are to lose the Second, there is a high chance we may lose the Third as well."

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Asuka's Mind - Movie Theatre, Cinema 7 (Turn off all pagers and cell phones please)

Asuka walked down the stairs until she reached the fifth aisle. In response, the dark incarnation stood up and faced her.

"I know why you are here. And I know what you intend to is impossible."

"Listen you!" Asuka pointed at Yami-Asuka. "This is my body and my mind. And what I say goes! You are to march your ass out of here!"

Yami-Asuka had a big grin on her face. "And what if I choose not to leave? What are you going to do about it?"

Asuka walked closer to her. Now they were only 2 metres apart. "I'll tear you apart, like I should have so long ago!"

Yami-Asuka began to laugh. "Hahahahahaha! You actually believe you can defeat me? How amusing!" She shows Asuka the bag of popcorn. "Popcorn?" Asuka's face does not change. Yami-Asuka's face grows more serious. "So you actually intend to do this?"

A confident grin came on Asuka's face. "I will do this."

Suddenly the movie theatre background disappeared. Next thing they knew, they appeared in a coliseum. The Roman Coliseum. Now they were about 5 metres apart.

"This is the Roman Coliseum. Great battles were fought here. It showed which warriors were the cream of the crop. However, as the rules of these things go, I must ask you once more. Are you sure you want to do this? If you lose, Hikari-Asuka will be destroyed, and I will have full control over your mind, thoughts, and feelings."

Asuka stayed confident. "I will destroy you."

Hikari-Asuka appeared in the stands. She had the bag of popcorn in her hand. Angel wings had grown out of her back now, truly representing Asuka's good side. "You can do it Asuka!"

Asuka looked to the child in the stands. She gave her the thumbs up. "Count on it." She looked at Yami-Asuka. "Let's do this." She begins to walk towards Yami-Asuka when the dark side raised a hand to stop her.

"If you are going to fight me, we will play by my rules, and in MY arena!" the evil one said.

Yami-Asuka jumps back to about 7 metres away. She started a chant. The chant echoed throughout the coliseum. 'What in the world is she saying?' thought Asuka.

Hikari-Asuka was shocked. 'This is exactly what Yami-Asuka wanted to do!' She flew over to Asuka. "Asuka, get out of here! Those are satanic phrases! She's conjuring the Seal of Diablos! She plans to send you straight to Hell!"

Suddenly, a circle of fire surrounded Yami-Asuka. The circle spread until it surrounded them both. Hikari-Asuka was blown away by the evil power. Next, a line of flame appeared to be drawing something in the circle. 5 lines later, a 5-point star was created.

Asuka looked up at Yami-Asuka. She looked different now. Her eyes had turn from their original blue to a blood red. And she had a satanic mark on her forehead.

"Like the new look?" Yami-Asuka asked. Her voice sounded even more evil than it did before.

"Stay right where you are!" Asuka shouted. "I'm coming over to kick your ass!"

"Now, now. Calm down!" said Yami-Asuka. "I haven't included the final touch!"

Everything went black again. Suddenly Asuka could see again. She was shocked at where she was. In Evangelion Unit 02's entry plug! She looked at what was across from her. It was another EVA Unit 02! But instead of red, it was black! And it had the same marking on its forehead that Yami-Asuka had! She noticed the coliseum had grown in proportions to the EVAs. And the same went for the Seal of Diablos!

Yami-Asuka's voice could be heard again. "Now everything is set. This will be a no-time limit battle. The winner will decide the fate of your lighter side, and the path that is intended for your future. Are you ready?"

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NERV Hospital - Room 530 (Quiet please)

Shinji looked at the girl on the bed. She was quiet at first, but then she began stirring. And then moaning and groaning on the bed. Shinji was concluding that she was having a nightmare. He took her right hand in his hand and held it, hoping she would be okay.

Suddenly, three images appeared in his mind as he held her hand. He saw three people. The first was Asuka, in her red plugsuit. The second was a child. It appeared to be a child version of Asuka. It gave off a warm feeling. The third vision was the teenage Asuka again. But this one had a black plugsuit. And it gave a very cold feeling. Shinji could sense that Asuka was having another internal struggle. He could only sit there and hope for the best.

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Asuka's Mind - Roman Coliseum (35 Euros a ticket)

With a loud cry, the battle began. The two EVAs grappled for the longest time. Neither one gave an inch. Asuka was determined to win no matter what. She let her opponent come into her, and she did her shoulder flip move, leaving the demon on her back.

The demon got up quickly. "Good," she said. "At least I know I'll have to fight at my best to defeat you."

The dark EVA charged again. It hit Asuka with a powerful shoulder charge. Asuka went flying and crashed into the border of the Seal. Surprisingly to Asuka, the flames didn't hurt.

"Ah, I forgot to mention, the flames won't hurt you unless they sense you trying to escape. And since you feel no burning sensation, I'm glad you still intend to fight."

Asuka got up again. This time she came in a few punches, which were blocked, and then went with a roundhouse kick that connected with the side of her opponent's head. The beast went down fast but was back up even faster.

"Just like old times," said Asuka. "You should know I'm full of surprises."

"I do."

Once more they charged. A grapple once more took place. This time Yami-Asuka got behind Asuka and put her in a headlock.

Asuka winced and cringed in pain at the force being applied in an attempt to crush her EVA's neck. She tried desperately to pull her opponent's arms away, but the dark EVA's grip was too strong. She quickly thought of another way. With a surge of strength, she managed to flip her shadow over her head and crash into the far side of the Seal of Diablos.

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NERV Hospital - Room 530

'What's this? Asuka's brainwaves are ecstatic! She's unconscious, but her brainwaves are still very active!' thought Ritsuko. 'How could this be?'

"Asuka! Stay strong! You're going to get through this!" Shinji said. He could sense that she was in peril, whatever she was doing.

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Asuka's Mind - Coliseum

Yami-Asuka was getting frustrated. Killing the neutral self was tougher than she thought. However, she still knew she would win. She had the power of the Seal of Diablos on her side. It gave her a greatpower. A power that was nearly limitless. She took out her progressive knife. Asuka did the same. Now the two forces were trying to hack the guts out of each other. As hard as they tried, the only thing they could connect with was each other's knife.

"Well, well Asuka. You're good, but I'm better. It's time I took this fight up a notch."

Suddenly the black Unit 2 had a black aura around it. It attacked Asuka again. To Asuka's shock, it was even faster than before. She knew it had to be drawing power from the Seal of Diablos. She desperately blocked its assaults. But it was just to fast. It managed to cut her across the chest plate. The pain was immense. But she could not give up. She tried to backpedal, but the evil EVA stabbed her in the left shoulder, making it very difficult to use her left arm.

The black EVA kicked the red EVA flying. She crashed into the wall of the Seal. Asuka realized what Hikari-Asuka meant. Yami-Asuka must have planned this. She could probably draw infinite power from the Seal of Diablos.

"I guess I lost. Shinji, I'm so sorry."

"Asuka! Don't give up!" It was Hikari-Asuka. Asuka couldn't see the child, but she could be heard. "You still have something to fight for!"

The black EVA paced towards her.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Asuka was confused. "I've lost. I'm going to lose!"

"You can't Asuka! Shinji hasn't given up on you yet!"

"Huh?" Suddenly, she can see herself in the hospital. Shinji is telling her to hang in there while the machine she's attached to is going haywire.

"He hasn't given up on me! I won't disappoint him again!"

Suddenly Asuka felt a surge of power flow through her body. Her EVA rose to its feet. It floated into the sky. It suddenly grew orange spectral wings! Asuka heard her child-like self speak once more.

"You have tapped into the pure good of your heart Asuka. As long as there's light, the darkness can't conquer all! Use this power to destroy her!"

Yami-Asuka was shocked. How could she do this? This can't be! Her sync level with the Seal was at 100. And Asuka's sync level with her EVA could only be 72! How could Asuka have tapped into more power?

"Wanna know my sync level bitch?" Asuka shouted at her evil self. "For your information, my sync level is 500! I'll destroy you in one shot!"

Yami-Asuka desperately raised her AT Field to its full capabilities. But she didn't stand a chance. "NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!" was the last thing she said before Asuka's EVA flew right through the top half of the black EVA, leaving only the waist and legs.

With Yami-Asuka destroyed, the Seal of Diablos faded away. Everything went dark again. Asuka sensed she was no longer in her Unit 02. But she saw the child appear in front of her again, with her golden angel wings spread out.

"Thank you," Hikari-Asuka said. "Because you defeated the darkness in your heart, I can return to my true form." Hikari-Asuka began to grow. She grew until she appeared to look exactly like Asuka. She now was wearing Asuka's school uniform and still had her golden wings. "Because the darkness was so powerful, she forced me to regress back to a child."

"I can't believe he never gave up on me," said Asuka who was now saddened. "I'll have to face him and everything I've done."

"You can do it, the powers of love are virtually limitless," Hikari-Asuka said as she faded away. "I believe in you…"

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NERV Hospital - Room 530

As strange as the machine started going off, it stopped. Ritsuko was relieved. She told Shinji she had some things to check on and to page her should the machine go off again.

Asuka woke up. She looked around. She noticed Shinji was holding her hand. He must have been there the entire time. Although he didn't know what was going on, he must have been there while she was having her internal struggle. She sat up in the bed.

Shinji spoke up like he did last time. "You gave us quite a scare there. You're okay now."

For the second time that day, tears began to well up in her eyes. To Shinji's shock, she threw her arms around him in a hug and began crying again. Shinji decided to hug her back. While she was crying into his shoulder, Asuka kept saying,

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"


	11. Let's Find Love

A/N: Well I got lots of good reviews. And now I'll respond to the reviewers.

King Alar- Thanks for telling me about me not being the only one not using Canadian people. The fact that I'm not the only goes to show that Canada is not disregarded and left out.

Incognito Girl- Thanks for all your reviews. I won't let you down!

Gemini Dreams- Thanks for your reviews too. As for how Asuka acts now, it's up in the air.

The Blind Ikari- The 3 original pilots had led shit lives thanks to the events that surrounded them. So I figured it'd be neat to have more pilots who've led pretty good lives. If you thought Zack was efficient, you should read my other pilot profile.

Animefan88- Thanks for your reviews as well. Reviews are what people need to keep going.

On another note, Tabris will not be making any appearances in this fanfic, cuz I don't like him one bit! He'll be lucky to get a reference.

Now I'm going to pull away from the drama and move into some more comedy. The original series had its laughs. But heck, I think it needed more laughs and not a spineless 14-year old boy wallowing in self-pity 24-7. Now on with the story!

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Zack had noticed a lot had happened in the past week. But he noticed something was different about Asuka. She seemed to be more docile than she was before. She would only get mad if someone else pissed her off and not get mad for no reason. Ivana had come over for some more sparring. 9 times out of 10, she would get the better of him. But then again, there were those 1 other times. Heck, she would spar with Zack because he could put up a better fight than everyone else she had come up against.

Asuka came out of her room. She looked very cheery today. Ivana took notice of this too.

"Misato. I'm going to the library," called Asuka into the kitchen.

"Okay. Be back before dark."

Zack was dumbfounded. Asuka never just went to the library. "Hey Ivana, why would Asuka want to go to the library?"

"I have no idea."

Zack got an idea. "Let's follow her and see what she's up to."

"But isn't that spying?"

"Meh. I was trained by the RCMP and you by the KGB. No one would ever know we were spies if we disguised well enough."

Ivana decided to go along with this. "All right. It will not cause harm to practice my covert operation skills. We must prepare the appropriate disguises quickly."

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Streets of Tokyo-3 (Look both ways before crossing the street)

Asuka was walking on her way to the library. Hopefully, she could find the information she was looking for there. She had considered advice columns, but there was no way she would ask for help. This was her problem, so she wanted to do it herself.

Ivana and Zack followed at a close distance behind. Their disguises were so flawless; you couldn't tell it was them. So flawless, in fact that they walked by Toji and he didn't notice it was them. They both looked like secret agents topped off with black suits, sunglasses and their issued 9mm handguns.

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Tokyo-3 Library (Quiet please)

Finally, Asuka arrived at the library. Her spies followed close behind her. Asuka set herself down at a desk. Ivana and Zack took different places. Ivana pretended to be reading a newspaper, while Zack pretended to be on a computer. Asuka appeared to go up to the librarian, ask for where something is. The librarian pointed in a direction. Asuka appeared to thank the librarian, and go off in that direction.

Zack and Ivana even had walkie-talkies. They began to communicate in English.

Zack: _What did she ask for_?

Ivana: _Couldn't tell. She spoke too softly_.

Zack: _What direction did she go off in_?

Ivana: _Apparently_, _that's the department of Social Sciences_.

Zack: _Well Asuka does have lots of social problems_. _One minute she's a bitch_, _next she's a crybaby_,_ and the odd time she's an angel_.

Ivana: _She's coming back_. _And she's holding two books_. _An orange one and a yellow one_. _Both have lots of pages_.

Asuka takes her two books that she picked out and sat down. She chose to read the orange book first. She takes out some reading glasses, looks for a certain page, and begins to read it.

Zack: _Okay, she's taken out the orange book_. _What the hell_!

Ivana: _What book is it_?

Zack: _You will not believe this! She has The Complete Idiot's Guide to Romance_!

Zack could only hear the sounds of someone choking on their breath. He watched as Asuka continued to read. Sometimes, she'd look surprised. Other moments, she would cringe, sigh with a look of bliss on her face, or just downright blush at what she read. Above all, Zack was surprised Asuka used glasses when she wanted to read.

Ivana was very surprised too. 'Why would Asuka read a book on romance? I heard that she had a crush on Mr. Ryouji, but that was a long time ago. Could it be Ikari?'

After about 15 minutes of read the Idiot's guide, Zack and Ivana watched as Asuka picked up the yellow book. It was titled "Love for Dummies".

Ivana then smiled. "Well, well Asuka. Despite your high I.Q. and your college diploma, you're still but a learner when it comes to love."

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Misato's Apartment (Take off your shoes before entering)

Shinji decided to make lunch for himself and Rei. Misato had obviously gone out to Kaji's again. Now he knew why Asuka thought it was such an indecent relationship.

But then again, Zack, Asuka, and maybe Ivana who was with Zack when she left, wouldn't mind having lunch. He proceeded over to the phone to call Asuka. Hopefully, she would have her NERV issued cell phone with her. After two rings, he got an answer.

Asuka: Hello.

Shinji: Uh, hey Asuka.

Asuka: Oh hey Shinji. Whacha doin?

Shinji: Uhh, uhh I was err… doing a barbecue lunch. Burgers and Hot Dogs. And… I was… wondering if you'd… like to come back!

Asuka: You had better wait until I get back before you start. I want my food fresh! Bye bye!

Click!

"Well that was weird," said Shinji.

Rei enters the kitchen. "What was weird?"

"Oh just the way Asuka has been acting lately."

"Yes. Her tone and her outlook on many things have changed drastically."

"I wonder what could cause that?"

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Library

Zack and Ivana watched as Asuka checked out her books. And took off for home.

"Well, I guess she's heading home now," said Zack. "Mission Accomplished."

"No. More like compromised."

Zack was confused. "Why?"

Ivana had to explain. "We left our clothes at Shinji's place. Asuka will notice we left our clothes there. And she saw us in our agent getups. If she sees our clothes and then us in these suits, she'll know we were spying on her."

"And if she finds out, we're dead!"

"Yes. So we must get moving and get home before she does!"

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Streets of Tokyo-3

"_Shit_! Of all the times she could run, she chooses now!" Zack and Ivana had to run back to Misato's place. Apparently, Asuka seemed very excited about something that was going to happen at home. So excited, she was running.

"If Asuka sees us running after her, she will get suspicious!" said Ivana as the two pilots continued pursuit.

"No problem. I know a detour."

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NERV HQ

"That many complaints?" Misato and Ritsuko appeared to be having a conversation. "So now what's going to happen?"

"Simple. Relocation."

"To where?" Misato asked.

"Commander Ikari has decided the relocation will be to your place."

"What the fuck! My apartment is NOT a daycare center!"

Ritsuko sighed. "Well your place was by far the best choice. Each of the kids enjoys hanging at your place. They say you make such a great guardian, well despite your… habits."

A smirk came on Misato's face. "Now that makes me want to do this."

Ritsuko now smiled. "You look after those kids like a mother almost."

"Yeah. Those kids are kind of like my kids. Almost makes me feel like a mother."

Misato had fallen in Ritsuko's trap. "And with a little help from Kaji, you could probably be a real mother!"

"WHAT? SHUT YOUR FACE!"

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Streets of Tokyo-3

"Nice detour idiot," said Ivana as the "agents" continued to chase after Asuka. "Way to crash through that crowd of elderly people."

"The ends justify the needs," replied Zack. "Besides, I didn't crash into them. I cut them off as they passed by."

"Whatever. There's the apartment."

They ran inside. They saw Asuka going up the elevator. That meant only one thing. They had to take the stairs. They desperately raced up the stairs, taking three steps at a time. They quickly made it to the seventh floor. As they raced back to Misato's apartment, they noticed Asuka was just coming up to the fifth floor. They had did it. They got to their apartment, and opened the door.

There wasn't even time for a hello to Shinji. Zack ran into his room, and Ivana ran into the bathroom.

Just then, Asuka came in the door. "I'm home!"

"Wow. That was fast."

"Yup. I ran all the way from the library. Did you wait for me like I asked you to?"

Shinji sighed. "Yes. I waited just for you."

Just then, Zack and Ivana came out of their respective rooms that they were in. Now they were dressed in their normal clothes.

"Ah, there you two are," said Shinji. "You're just in time. I was about to barbecue. Either one of you prefer veggie burgers?"

"No, I don't," replied Ivana.

"Nope. Pure meat for me," was Zack's reply. "And by the way, what's with the weird getup?"

"Oh, Misato bought this for me," said Shinji. Shinji was wearing a chef's hat and an apron that said, "Kiss the Cook".

So Shinji did burgers and hot dogs out on the balcony. It seemed Shinji could do anything when it came to cooking. He grilled the burgers and dogs to perfection. Everyone enjoyed Shinji's cooking. He could make anything taste good.

Later, as the five were all talking about EVA and other things inlifein the TV room, Misato came home. "I'm hoooooommmme!"

"Welcome back Misato," said Shinji.

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"And that's how things are Ivana," said Misato. "You've beaten up everyone in that complex and beaten up the landlord three times already. So you're going to have to be relocated."

Ivana couldn't help but chuckle. "Those morons had it coming. That's what happens when a girl gives them a no for an answer. They try to take advantage of me, and learn painfully that they can't."

"So now, Ivana, by the will of Commander Ikari, you are to live here from now on," said Misato.

"So where will she sleep?" asked Asuka.

Misato gave her an odd look. "Where else? With you and Rei."

Asuka had another outburst. "WHAT? THREE TO A ROOM? IT'LL BE TOO CROWDED!"

Just like when Rei was moving in, Misato had the better hand. "Well Asuka, if you don't like it, I can always move Zack onto the couch and Ivana can move in with Shinji. Or Zack can go on the couch and you can move in with Shinji."

Ivana stood up. "I will move in with Shinji."

Asuka stood up now too. "NO WAY! IF ANYONE IS GOING TO KEEP SHINJI IN CHECK, THAN IT'S ME!"

Misato smiled. "Then it's settled. Asuka will move in with Shinji. And Zack will be moving onto the couch."

Zack was flustered. "Hey, how come I get sacrificed?"

"Well, you get easy access to the TV."

Zack lightened up a little. "Well, that's good then. I get the TV, and Shinji gets to sleep with a girl. Now Asuka can cuddle with Shinji instead of a doll!"

Another Asuka styled outburst. "JUST WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?"

"Exactly what I said."

"Speaking of Shinji," said Misato. "Hey Shinji, remember that Asuka doll I bought you?"

Shinji was surprised to hear anything about the Asuka doll. "What about it?"

"Well when I bought that doll, I entered your name in a draw. And you won the plush doll that came with it. Here you go."

Shinji took the SEELE-shaped box from Misato. He opened it up. Everyone gasped with shock and horror.

It was a plush doll of Gendo Ikari.

Misato was now laughing her face off. "Oh that was rich! The look on your face! I'll show you something else that's funny." They went into Shinji's room. Misato then took a doll's chair and table and sat the Gendo look-alike in the chair. It looked like the way Gendo usually sat, with his hands folded just below his nose.

"Scary," said Zack.

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Bedtime 12:00am

It was time to go to bed. Shinji had his stakeout over by the far wall, while Asuka slept closer to the door. Shinji already knew what was implied if he dared get close to Asuka while she slept. However, he noticed Asuka had a mini lamp on and appeared to be reading something.

Shinji was curious. "Hey Asuka, what are you reading?"

"Oh it's nothing really."

"Can I see?"

Asuka's tone quickly changed. "No! It's a girl's book. Not for boys to read!"

Shinji sighed. "If you say so. Good night Asuka."

Asuka watched as Shinji quickly fell asleep. A tear came down her cheek. 'If only you knew Shinji.' She put the book Love for Dummies away where no one could see it. She then had an idea. 'Maybe if I go sleep next to him, he'll get an idea of how I feel.'

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Next Day

Misato woke up early. She was out of beer, and was too lazy to go get more. She had considered sending Zack in a disguise that would make him look like Kaji, but it didn't work. So she had to get up early, and go to the variety store to get her beer.

She arrived back at 6:00am with a 24-pack in hand. She decided to check on Asuka and Shinji. Not that she was worried they may do something, but she figured it never hurt to be a little curious.

Misato opened Shinji's door just enough to see inside. She saw Asuka sleeping rather close to Shinji. But Shinji was sleeping with his back turned to her. She assumed Shinji still felt like he was under a gun. Misato decided to see what Asuka's point of view was on this.

5 minutes later and one outburst, Asuka was sitting in the kitchen with Misato. Misato had already opened up a can of beer, Asuka had a cup of mint tea.

"So why did you drag me out here?" Asuka was curious to know why she was abruptly woken up.

"Just a simple question. How do you feel about Shinji?"

Asuka was shocked. "What? What makes you think about that?"

Misato had a big grin on her face. "This is why." She took out an orange book. "You left it under the couch last night." It was The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finding Romance! "Are you trying to learn how to make a move on Shinji?" she said in a slightly teasing tone.

"Hey! I'm not disgusting like you at least! At least I'm trying to do it without looking bad or inappropriate!"

Misato sipped more beer. "So. When did this first begin? I thought you couldn't stand Shinji."

Asuka bowed her head down in shame. "I've loved him for the longest time. Ever since the 7th Angel. But my selfish pride and my arrogance always stopped me. Believe me, I always wanted to make a move on Shinji, but when I think about all the truly terrible things I have done…"

Misato kept her face straight. "You think he will reject you."

"Yes, that's exactly it." Tears began to form in Asuka's eyes. "Just recently, I finally saw the evil of the things I have done. What I have done is unforgivable. He has every fucking reason in the world and beyond to tell me to get the hell out of his life." She began to cry.

Misato came over to her side of the table and wrapped her arms around the sobbing German girl. Asuka cried for a good ten minutes before Misato decided to speak again. "You know what Asuka? I bet Shinji has feelings for you too. The best time to tell him how you feel is for you to put him in an atmosphere where he feels comfortable."

"R-r-really?"

Misato gave her an assuring smile. "You betcha. And I know just how to do it."

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Later that day

"What the hell is a kimono?"

"What are you, stupid?" Asuka was trying to tell Zack about Japanese festival wear. From the looks of it, Zack probably never left Canada that often.

"In Japan, a kimono is a type of clothing," said Rei.

"Yup. We're going to the Tokyo-3 fair today. And on the opening day, everyone is required to wear a kimono," said Misato. "I bought you and Shinji kimonos too."

Misato laid out everyone's kimono. Rei had a purple and yellow one. Asuka's was blue. Shinji's was red. Ivana's was red, blue, and white. And Zack's was green.

After everyone got into their respective kimonos, Misato had them take a group picture. And then they took off for the fair. They ran into Toji too along the way. Somehow, Hikari had convinced Toji into going with her. Without further hesitation, the kids entered the fair and prepared to have an awesome time!

A/N: Well I finally got it done! Sorry it took so long. I've been really tied up the last few days! The next chapter will be all about the time at the fair. Expect all sorts of things to happen! Please read and review! Until the next chapter, be cool!


	12. Bonding of two souls

A/N: Here is the fair. Expect all sorts of crazy things to happen. Some things may not make sense. That is okay. Now on with the story!

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Everyone expected to have a great time at the fair. Zack, Ivana and Rei went off towards the events the fair had going on. Toji, Shinji, Asuka, and Hikari went off towards the games that were going on. Misato, who had run into Kaji, went off towards the beer tent.

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"Hey that looks like a neat event." Zack was pointing at something that looked like a gunfight challenge.

It was called "Starlight Shootout". Ivana seemed interested in this game. Zack was interested in this game too. Rei just kept her usual blank stare.

"So Ivana. Are you game?" Zack asked.

"I love a good gunfight. I will play this game," replied Ivana.

After reading the rules they then realized it was 3-on-3. They would need a third person. And the only person around they could trust was Rei. Ivana decided to ask if she wanted to join.

"So Rei. Do you want to be out third person?"

Rei gave a monotone response. "Understood. I will be your third person. It is likely that our opponents will be very efficient. And I doubt Pilots Ikari or Sohryu would be very good with a weapon."

"Then it's settled!" said a very excited Zack. "Let's see how well these goofs stand up to NERV, the KGB, and the RCMP!"

The host of the event was pleased that he would get three more challengers to take on his team of skilled shooters. He handed them each a strange looking vest with sensors on it and a strange device that looked like a simple handgun.

It seemed simple. Aim for the sensors on your opponents' vest. If you get hit, you are out of the game. Seemed simple enough for the First, Fifth, and Sixth Children.

Before they started, if they were to encounter each other, they'd have to recite the password. (I'm not telling because you will tell their opponents!) Once all three understood the password, they entered the maze.

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Starlight Shootout Maze (Stealth is key)

Rei took her time. It was obvious the others were making footsteps, therefore disrupting her sense of who was where. She took cautious looks at her surroundings, checking for anything that did not look right, or any place that could be used as an ambush. She came to a fork in the maze. Right or left? She took one look behind her, and then proceeded onto the left path.

She heard footsteps again. They seemed to echo off all the surrounding walls. She kept her laser gun ready to zap anyone who dared to cross her path. She was not trained for gunfights like Pilots Harper and Kharlamov. She would have to keep an extra guard up.

At the end of a corridor, Rei sighted what appeared to be a mirror. There were fragments of it on the floor. This gave her an idea. She picked up a fragment of the mirror and rounded the corner. This place, she decided would be her ambush spot.

Suddenly, as she peeked out to see who it was, a laser blast singed right by her head. It was one of her opponents!

"Haha! You're cornered little girl!" came the cocky statement. "I got you now!"

Rei knew that now was the time to put her plan into action. She took the fragment of the mirror she had. She placed it out into the corridor on a 45-degree angle with her other hand. She then used the laser gun to shoot into the mirror.

Everything went to plan. The laser bounced off the mirror, went down the corridor, and impacted her opponent's sensor vest.

"Aww shit! Looks like you got me! But ya gotta get the others too to win!"

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Zack wondered what exactly he was up against. One would be surprised what could go through an agent's mind when he was on a mission. Sometimes, when he would get the chance, he would let his mind drift elsewhere, as a temporary escape from the fact that you would be shedding blood today. But he remembered this was a laser tag game. The only thing on the line was your pride, not your life. But still, who was he up against? And what was the prize? Was one of his opponents a pretty girl? And where the hell was he?

He had been pursuing and shooting at his assailant for some time now. His opponent was also firing a vicious volley of laser fire. He ducked behind a wall and used it to fortify himself as he shot back. Suddenly, no shots were being fired back. He looked up. The attacker was gone. So he moved silently down another corridor.

Zack came upon some stairs. To climb or not to climb? He figured he would get nowhere if he didn't keep advancing. He climbed the stairs; all the while remaining conscious of the fact his opponent was preparing an ambush. But where? Suddenly he heard some more footsteps! He rounded a corner and saw the source of the recent set of footsteps. It was a girl with familiarly pale skin and blue hair. Rei!

After making sure he knew the password, Rei told Zack that she was able to beat her opponent. Zack told Rei that he was still chasing his opponent and he had probably set up an ambush somewhere. So now the pair had to be cautious of their surroundings. It would be easier though. Zack would watch whatever was in front of them, and Rei would watch whatever was behind them. More footsteps could be heard. Above?

Rei was also conscious of the attacker's movements. It was obviously very sloppy if he was so easily detected. While they looked up, they saw an open hole in the wall where an enemy could stick out their weapon and fire! This gave Zack an idea.

The attacker knew he was above two of the contestants. He saw the window where he could ambush them both and have only the black-haired girl left over. He slowly inched over to the wall preparing to strike. He was a good two-and-a-half metres off the ground. He was within almost two metres of the window.

Suddenly a figure came up on the other side of the wall with a laser gun pointed through the hole. The figure shot at his sensor vest. The vest made some blips and beeps and shut down. He was out of the game! How did they do that?

Zack gave the answer he was looking for. "Simple. We knew you were above us. Then that hole in the wall we sawtwo-and-a-half metresup confirmed it. We then hatched a plan to ambush you since you would not be expecting it. I just simply cupped my hands and propelled Rei into the air and she shot you."

"Why can't my buds think of a tactic like that?"

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Ivana moved slowly through the maze. She heard some commotion here and there. Through the sounds she heard, she found out that Rei and Zack had beaten their opponents, but she was still not able to find hers.

She found covert operations quite exciting. She had done covert operations in Russia, when they were still fighting with Chechnya. She was the top child agent in all of Russia. And she was doing her homeland proud by fighting off attacker again and again. And she would win this game as well.

She had not detected any movement from her opponent for quite a while. If he thought he could outlast her he was sadly mistaken. On one mission in Russia, she was able to hold her position for 18 hours and not make any noise. She crept quietly through the narrow corridor she was in. This time she heard a two pairs of footsteps. She knew Zack and Rei were not to far off.

But where was the attacker? He had made no movements for about five minutes now. And if he was moving, he was doing a relatively good job of staying silent. She continued to advance.

She heard a creak in the floor. Wherever he was, the creak came from ahead ofher, and she knew Zack and Rei were ahead of her. So, by natural instinct, shequickly but stealthlyadvanced. Now she was in a wide, open area. She saw a shot a fired at her. So she ducked behind a barricade and began shooting back. As she looked around, she saw Zack and Rei both shooting at something. The third opponent. He seemed pretty nervous. Well who wouldn't be if you had three people shooting at you?

The exchange of gunfire continued for about a minute when Ivana got a plan.

Their opponent was very nervous. Somehow, these kids had taken down his two allies. And now all three of them were shooting at him. After exchanging gunfire for a minute, it suddenly stopped! He looked out where they were shooting. They were gone. But where did they go? So he decided to move away from this area.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps on both sides as he ran down the corridor. Suddenly, he ran into Zack! He turned to look behind him. Behind him was Ivana! And from above in an ambush position was Rei! Three simultaneous shots at his vest shut it down, thus ending the game.

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Outside the Starlight Shootout Event

The host was surprised. "Wow! I never thought my three best shooters could be beaten so easily. You three win the grand prizes because you won 3-0!"

Zack, Rei, and Ivana each won a paintball gun, and each got 5 full clips of paintballs.

The three handed their prizes to the Section-2 agents who always watched their every move and told them to look after their prizes.

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Midway

Shinji, Asuka, Toji, and Hikari were having loads of fun at the midway. Asuka and Hikari wanted the boys to win big prizes for them.

"Well Shinji. You know what we gotta do."

Shinji could only sigh. "Yeah. Let's find games we can easily win."

Toji then sighted a fun looking game. For 300 yen, they could throw 3 balls and try to break 3 plates. "Hey Shinji, let's play that game!"

"Alright then."

The boys then paid their fees to play. Shinji's first ball hit the plate, but it didn't break. He quickly felt fairly embarrassed.

Asuka was furious. "Come on Shinji! Pretend that plate is your father or something!"

Shinji decided to try Asuka's way of thinking. He visualized that plate being his father. He thought of all the times his father used him only because he had a use for him. He thought of all the times Gendo neglected him. He thought of the time Gendo made Unit 01 trash Toji while he was trapped in Unit 03 when an Angel possessed it.

Suddenly, Asuka noticed Shinji wind up and throw the ball like it was shot out of a cannon! The ball managed to break two plates in one throw! He quickly took his third ball and smashed two more plates in one throw! Four plates with three balls!

The game host was even a little scared. "Wow! You really must hate your old man! Now I'd really hate being your father! Here's your prize!"

Shinji won a giant red bulldog, which he gave to Asuka. Then Toji took his turn. Something about "If Shinji can do it, I can do it better!"

3 balls came with only 3 misses. The rest of them just laughed at a very embarrassed Toji.

Hikari chuckled. "What good is power if you can't aim?"

"Whatever. I'll bet there's another game where I can win!"

The four paced along to another game. This one was called "Ring the Bell". This one cost 200 yen for one hammer shot. Asuka made Shinji go first. Shinji sheepishly gave it his best shot. His hammer only made the bell ringer go 2/5 of the way up. The others laughed at him again.

"Okay! It's my turn!" Toji stepped up to the hammer ringer. The Fourth Child brought the hammer back over his head, and brought in down with tremendous force. The bell ringer shot up and rang the bell. That won Toji a giant black cat, which he gave to Hikari. So after playing some more games and giving the prizes to the Section-2 agents to hold onto, they went to get something to eat.

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Beer Tent (Must be legal drinking age. Please show I.D. if you look under 25)

Misato and Kaji were drinking away their times in the beer tent. Misato always ready to drink until she threw up. While Kaji preferred one or two drinks. He always assumed he had a duty to make sure Misato got home safely because whenever they went drinking she ALWAYS got drunk.

"So how has my favourite woman been doing?" Kaji asked.

"Alright I guess. Now we have Ivana moved into our apartment. She shares the room with Rei."

Kaji grinned. "And Asuka?"

"You won't believe this. She's moved in with Shinji, and Zack has moved onto the couch," said Misato.

"So they really have gotten married. The rumours were true. So now it's Asuka Langley Ikari."

Misato got frustrated. "They're not married! In your dreams!"

Kaji could only smile at the disgruntled lady. "Well I guess my dream could one day become reality. I think they'd be great for each other. Then there will be little Shinjis or little Asukas running around one day."

"Oh get your mind out of the gutter! Oh waiter! Another beer please!"

Kaji sighed. 'Oh great. Hopefully she won't throw up too much tonight. I'll have to take her home again.'

Suddenly another guy came up to Misato. "Hey you were the woman who funneled all that beer at the Tokyo-3 ball!"

Misato shot this guy a big grin. "Yup. Misato Katsuragi. Champion Beer Funneler!"

The man shot just as big a grin back at her. "Would you care for a beer funnel battle against me?"

Misato got up out of chair. "You have no idea what you are up against!"

Kaji could only watch and sigh. "Here we go again!"

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"

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Some random picnic table (Very random!)

Zack, Ivana, and Rei sat down to some ice cream Zack had treated the girls to. Zack bought a waffle cone with a triple scoop of chocolate ice cream. Ivana had a waffle cone with a double scoop of butterscotch. And Rei had a waffle cone with a double scoop of vanilla ice cream. The trio was bragging somewhat about their victory.

"Man! The final tests in the RCMP training academy were easier than that! That was a joke!" Zack had said.

"Indeed. The agents at the KGB were a thousand times better than those fools were," said Ivana.

"The only real skill those men had was knowledge of the maze. Combat experience was very minimal," said Rei.

Zack had a big grin. "And to think, we got these awesome paintball guns! Now we can play paintball whenever we like! I would own you all hands down!"

"Zack. I would hit you ten times before you got me once," said Ivana. "I would prove so right now, but then risk ruining our kimonos."

"Yeah right. I'd make you beg for my mercy."

Rei interjected. "Excuse me Pilot Harper, but your ice cream is melting."

"_Aww shit_!"

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"You just had to take on two others eh?" Kaji was carrying Misato home. She won the first beer challenge rather easily. She was easily drunk by then. But then she just HAD to take on two others! And although she won both times, afterwards she threw up everywhere! And then the waiters asked them to leave.

"I… lllllovvvvvve… beeeeeeer," came Misato's slurred response. She had tried to walk home, but she was so drunk she couldn't keep her balance.

'What a woman,' Kaji thought. 'She skipped college for a week to sleep with me. She dumped me. We got back together. We go on-and-off. She kills me. And when I come back, she is happy to see me. I think things will stay the same though. But heck, that's why I love her.'

Misato's hands came around to his chin. "Yoooouuuu rreally need to s-s-shave tthhhaaaattt stuubbb…"

Misato had just passed out.

Kaji sighed once more and continued the walk back to her apartment. He planned to tuck her into bed, feed Pen-Pen, and go home.

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Somewhere on a hill overlooking the fair

Shinji and Asuka were sitting on a hill that overlooked the fair. Toji and Hikari had already gone their way to do who knows what, so that left Asuka and a very nervous Shinji. Asuka wanted a quiet place just so the two of them could talk. Shinji was very hesitant at first. But then Asuka assured him she wasn't teasing him, so he decided to follow her. He followed her until they sat down on top of a hill.

"It's a beautiful night isn't it?" asked Asuka.

"Yeah. It is. What brings you to have us come up here by ourselves?"

Asuka had a smile on her face. "Hey I think the two of us deserve some time together by ourselves."

She moved to snuggle closer to him. Shinji assumed Asuka was either cold or maybe she did like him. Shinji decided to focus the subject more on her, to see what her perspective was of this.

"One thing I've noticed Asuka is that you've changed a lot in the past week. Ever since we left the hospital."

"Yeah. Let's say I learned a lot in that hospital bed."

Shinji was curious. "What did you learn?"

Asuka bowed her head down. "Let's say I kinda took a look at myself. I found out the painful way what a bitch I was to everybody."

"You're not a bitch…"

"Yes I was! Don't you remember how I acted? I was so cruel to you! Cruel to everyone!" Tears began to form in the German's blue eyes. "I didn't realize everyone wanted to be nice to me! I just pushed them out of the way like they were nothing!"

She began to cry. She wrapped her arms around Shinji. Shinji could only think to hug her back as she cried into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Shinji! I'm so sorry!" she said as she continued to sob. "I'm so sorry I was so cruel to you! I know you have every reason in the world and beyond to just tell me to fuck off! I've been such a fucking bitch!"

Shinji chose to be sympathetic. "Asuka. It's okay. I'm not angry with you."

"You're just saying that! You just want me to stop crying!"

"I'm not just saying that," replied Shinji. "Asuka. I forgive you. For all the things you've done, I forgive you. I can see past who you are pretending to be and see you for who you really are."

Shinji was even surprised at his use of words. Asuka stopped crying and looked into his eyes. Shinji continued. "You're just like me. We crave the love of those around us but are afraid to get close to anyone because we fear they may hurt us."

"How d-did you know?"

Shinji replied. "Your actions made it clear what you wanted. Your wanting to be close to be despite your resentment. Your wanting me to pay attention to you, and well, your subconscious actions."

Asuka gave a muffled laugh. "Yeah. You wanted me to snuggle with you like how I did with the plush doll."

"Simply put Asuka. As long as you don't go out of your way to hurt me, although the times you had was just part of your personality and your inner pain, I will never push you away."

Asuka eyes began to glow. "Thank you Shinji. I think I can say this without a doubt in my mind."

"Say what?"

Asuka looked directly into Shinji's eyes. "Shinji. I love you."

Shinji smiled directly back into her eyes. "I know Asuka. I do too."

They looked into each other's eyes. They moved closer. Asuka parted her lips and hoped he could read what she wanted him to do. Shinji obviously read the signal and closed the distance that had separated their lips.

It was a long kiss. Except that this time, Asuka wasn't plugging his nose, nor was just to pass time. This time they kissed for the right reasons. It was a rather long kiss too. Asuka wrapped her arms around his neck and Shinji wrapped his arms around her waist.

They kissed for about a minute before they broke off for oxygen. They looked into each other's eyes and kissed again. This kiss once again lasted a minute.

After sitting there for about ten minutes just enjoying each other's warmth, they got up and walked home, hand in hand.

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Misato's apartment

Finally, after ten minutes of walking, the newfound lovers made it home. They entered inside.

"Mein gott, I'm tired," said Asuka.

Shinji seemed preoccupied. "Hey Kaji left a note. I'll read it."

**To Zack, Rei, Ivana, and the Ikaris,**

**Misato has passed out and she is in bed. You can be as loud as you like as I doubt anything will wake her up. Don't worry, I already took the initiative and fed Pen-Pen. I'll just say goodnight and good luck dealing with Her Highness' hangover tomorrow. **

**Kaji**

The pair sighed. The Ikaris? Was that his idea of a joke? Regardless, they got ready for bed. Shinji decided to sleep in his boxer shorts. While Asuka chose just her bra and panties. They were about to got to sleep when Asuka spoke up.

"Hey Shinji."

"What is it Asuka?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"WHAT?"

"Not in that sense baka!" said Asuka. "I meant just sleeping together."

"If you are okay with it, then so am I," replied Shinji.

So Asuka left her futon and crawled into bed with Shinji. The two looked so peaceful together. Shinji quickly fell asleep.

Asuka quickly kissed once more. "Goodnight Shinji. I love you," she said before falling asleep half way on his chest.

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20 minutes later

"Well that was a great time we had at the fair," said Zack. Zack, Ivana and Rei

"It is late and we should retire for the night," said Rei. "I believe Pilots Ikari and Sohryu have already retired for the night as their shoes are here."

Ivana agreed. "Yes. Otherwise we will never be able to get up for tomorrow."

Rei and Ivana went to their room to go to sleep. This left just Zack.

"Well, I'll get my stuff and crash for the night," he said as he went to open the door to where Shinji and Asuka were sleeping. But then he didn't want to wake Asuka, as it would mean nothing but disaster.

"Guess I'll just sleep in my boxers on the couch."

A/N: And would you look at that! How cute eh? R&R readers. Until Chapter 13, be cool!


	13. Confrontation of the Ikaris

A/N: Well now that our two lovebirds have found each other what will happen next. First, I'll respond to the reviewers.

Ikari's'R'us - You think Zack is more American than Canadian? Well, actually the only real difference between the American person and the Canadian person is governments. And my ultimate defence for saying Zack is Canadian is in Chapter 2. Just read and you will understand. And who says Canadians can't show off? I show off all the time!

Incognito Girl - Yeah the Gendo plush doll was a riot! Asuka won't be the same Asuka that we all couldn't stand. She'll be a lot nicer now, but that doesn't mean she loses her edge!

i laugh at you - Give it time. This will be for the beginning and R&R chappie, but there is a sinister plot going on.

By the way, what the hell does SI stand for?

And just to refresh everyone's memory. When Zack speaks in English, it will be in italics.

Now on with the story! Shinji and Asuka have just shared their first night together. Who's gonna walk in on them first?

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The morning after the fair (Zack's turn to make breakfast)

Zack woke up with a yawn. He was up late last night trying to figure out the parental code so he could watch whatever he wanted on TV. He hadn't gotten it yet, but he was narrowing down the numbers. He would try a few other combinations tonight and maybe, just maybe...

But right now, he needed some clothes. And Asuka was unfortunately going to be in his way. Asuka or no Asuka, he was going to get some clothes. His dresser was still in there.

He went to what used to be his room and gasped at what he saw.

He saw Shinji and Asuka cuddled up on the same futon under the same blanket! And he couldn't see any clothes either.

A Zack styled outburst. "_HOLY SHIT! _OH GOOD GOD! SHINJI!"

Shinji was awakened by the outburst. "Zack… what are you yelling for?" Shinji was still waking up and was obviously unaware of what was going on.

Zack was assuming the worst had happened between Shinji and Asuka and now possibly a baby was on its way. But Zack had to know for sure and there was only question to ask. "Shinji. Did you wear protection last night?"

"Protection? What protection?" Shinji was still waking up and didn't understand the question.

"OH MY GOD! YOU TWO DID IT ALL NIGHT LONG! AND WITH NO PROTECTION! THERE'S GONNA BE A BABY ON THE WAY! ACK! MISATO'S GONNA KILL ME! IT WAS MY IDEA TO PAIR YOU TWO TOGETHER! AND NOW THIS! I'M DEAD! SO GODDAMN DEAD!"

Now Asuka was awake from all Zack's yelling. "Hey! Stop looking at us you pervert!"

Asuka picked up the Shinji plush doll and threw it at Zack. It hit him square in the face.

Zack was now pretty angry. "What the hell was that for you skank?"

"What did you say Casanova?"

"Exactly what I said, skank!"

Now Asuka was pretty angry. Angry enough to get up out of bed.

Zack honestly thought Asuka had no clothes on. "Ack! Avert thine eyes!" He covers his eyes.

"I'm not naked you pervert!" said Asuka.

Zack felt a little better knowing he wasn't looking at a naked girl. He moved his arms away from his face. Then…

WHAM!

Asuka had punched him in the face. "What does this look like?" she asked him while pointing at her tube bra. She also had panties on too.

'A tube bra? Had me fooled,' thought Zack to himself. He wasn't going to let Asuka get away with it for punching him. He decided to keep his attitude up. "Your boob."

WHAM!

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Later that morning at the table (Wash your hands before eating)

Everyone had sat down to the breakfast Zack had made. He had made a large batch of apple crisp. Misato had also gotten over her hangover too. Zack had not quickly forgotten the punches Asuka gave him and he was NOT about to let that go unpunished.

"Everyone, I have something to announce!" Zack said as he stood up. Shinji was already looking flushed, knowing what Zack was going to say. Asuka gave him a look that said 'If you tell everyone, I will KILL you!'

The glare did not stop the Canadian. "I'd like to announce that Shinji and Asuka have confessed their love to each other and are now going out!"

This resulted in whoops and cheers for Shinji and Asuka. Their faces turned about as red as Asuka's plugsuit.

Zack was laughing by far the hardest. His payback scheme had worked perfectly! Or so he thought. When he looked up he noticed Asuka and Shinji both hit him with a simultaneous kick that sent him flying through the balcony door. That's where he finished his laugh.

Misato and Rei were the only ones not laughing. Ivana did cheer for a bit. But Zack did the most and that's why he was on the balcony in a daze from being sent through the glass. And now there's broken shards of glass everywhere.

"Well I think it serves him right," said Misato. "Anyhoo you two," she continued looking at Shinji and Asuka. She wrapped them both in a big hug. "I'm happy for both of you. As for him, I'd think we'd better help him up. But he DID have it coming."

One fixed balcony door later (glass door filled with cardboard), the kids and Misato got some summer clothes on. They knew what day today was: The NERV BBQ party in the Geofront! And everyone from NERV was invited!

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Geofront - BBQ Party

At 12:00pm, Misato and her artificial family arrived at the Geofront. They had also brought the CD player and everyone brought some of their favourite CDs. The rest of those who had come were already there. Kaji was manning the grill, making sure the burgers and hotdogs were cooked to perfection.

"Hey Misato, glad you could make it," said Ritsuko who was also there.

Everyone got together and conversed. Lots of things were talked about. The simulator battles, Misato's beer funneling at the beer tent AND the Tokyo-3 party, Shinji and Asuka's newfound relationship, what happened to Zack when he tried to embarrass them.

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The Grill

Kaji was placed in charge of the grill. He was doing his best to keep the food properly cooked. He felt he was doing a good job, with all the burgers, hotdogs, and sausages being turned and grilled accordingly.

He observed Shinji and Asuka. He was right about what he was saying to Misato last night. They were great for each other! Perhaps there would be little Shinjis and Asukas one day!

Suddenly, someone pushed Kaji out of the way. It was Gendo Ikari! Kaji was confused. "C-Commander, what are you doing?"

Gendo gave a monotone reply. "The grill is too high."

"What?"

"There is always a one degree difference between success and disaster. I will handle this operation from now on."

Everyone else laughed at Kaji who was just having difficulty coming up with a response. He was just shoved off the barbecue by the Commander.

Zack took this time to interject. "Well Shinji, I think it's clearly obvious who you get your cooking talents from."

"Y-Yeah. If you say so."

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"Hey how about a beach volleyball game?" That came from Shigeru.

Makoto thought it would be fun too. "Yeah! Let's play!"

"What are the teams?" asked Misato.

Ritsuko had an idea. "Let's make it the staff vs. the Children!"

"Bring it on! You're all washed up!" shouted Zack.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" came the outburst from Misato.

Asuka was fired up too. "C'mon Shinji. Let's kick those coots off the court!"

"A-All right."

A/N: Just for fun, and a little fan service, all the girls are wearing bathing suits. One piece or two-piece is totally up to you.

The teams would look like this. (How the starting lineups on the court would look with the top line being the closest to the net.)

Team EVA

Ivana Toji Zack

Shinji Asuka Rei

Team Old School

Makoto Misato Maya

Ritsuko Shigeru Kaji

The game started off with the first serve going to Team EVA. Rei made the opening serve. It wasn't a very hard serve though. It was easily controlled by Kaji who hit the ball up in the air with a bump. Misato then volleyed the ball, setting up Makoto. When Makoto spiked the ball, it blew by Zack and Toji and nearly decked Asuka. But the ball was still inbounds.

Old School 1, EVA 0.

Now Kaji was serving to team EVA. His serve was like a missile. It hit Shinji square in the head, knocking him off his feet. But the ball went up in the air, remaining inbounds and falling in Ivana's direction. Ivana set up Toji for a spike. Poor Misato didn't have much of a chance against the boy's powerful spike. It blew right through her and Ritsuko.

Old School 1, EVA 1.

"Way to use your head Shinji!" called Asuka.

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Gendo Ikari was right about one thing. Kaji did have the grill too high. It would be tricky, but he figured if he turned down the grill by the same amount it was too high by and with some skillful flips of the burgers, hotdogs and sausages, he might just be able to save the food.

He turned down the grill and flipped a few patties, which needed flipping.

This was when Vice-Commander Fuyutski came up to him. "Who's winning?"

"Whoever wins is irrelevant. But the score is now tied at 16. And Team EVA is serving. Shinji is serving at the moment."

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Somewhere else in a location not known by anyone. (Not sure if it's even known by our speakers. We can't see who's speaking because the sleezeballs behind the scenes for some reason don't like being seen. )

Voice 1: Is the operation ready?

Voice 2: Yes. And we have a pilot who's willing to do the job.

Voice 3: With a threat like this on their hands, they will submit to our will, or be destroyed.

Voice 1: Where was this one built?

Voice 2: Cuba.

Voice 1: And the certain other has agreed to help us right?

Voice 2: Yes. If he believes it is necessary, he will lend his aid.

Voice 3: Let's see them handle a threat 250 miles above the earth!

All voices start laughing with an evil tone to it.

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Geofront (It's a close game. And the food is almost ready)

The score was now tied at 34. Originally, volleyball games are only played until one team reaches 25 by two points. Otherwise go to 26 or beyond until one team has the two-point lead. But both teams agreed that first to 35 even by one point will win the game.

At the end of the game though, Zack called a timeout. He wanted to put together a special formation. He wanted to win this game in style. He whispered the plan to the team. They liked it, but warned Zack that if this failed, he would be going first in the dunk tank.

This was the formation Zack had in mind.

Rei Zack Asuka

Toji Shinji Ivana

The six (except Rei) shouted, "Break!"

And so began the final play. Kaji made the serve. It was a missile just like all his other serves. But Toji was able to control it and bumped it into the air.

Shinji began running towards Zack. Zack steps to his left and Asuka moves in towards the center. They cup their hands together.

Toji had bumped the ball towards Rei. She volleyed the ball high into the air towards where Zack was.

Shinji jumped into the cupped hands of Zack and Asuka. And the two propelled him high into the air.

Shinji in midair saw the ball and went for the spike. BOOM! The ball flew… flew… right into Misato's forehead! BAM!

The ball then flew out of bounds, thus ending the game.

Team EVA, 35. Team Old School, 34.

Misato was out cold for a few minutes. Everyone else was cheering. Shinji did feel bad for decking his guardian though.

Suddenly, Gendo spoke up. "Lunch is ready."

So they all sat down to lunch. Gendo was an amazing cook. The food was cooked to perfection!

After lunch, they got out the dunk tank. Toji was first to sit on the dunk seat. Kaji took the first few throws at the dunk seat. The first ball missed the target. But the second ball hit home, and Toji got soaked. This resulted in whoops of cheers from everyone else around.

Toji had already had enough. It wasn't easy, but they managed to get Shinji up next. Of course Asuka wanted to be the one to dunk the Third Child. She missed twice, but the third time was the charm. Shinji was all wet now too.

With lots of struggle, Asuka was up next on the tank. Shinji managed to take Asuka down on the first throw. She wasn't happy at all. At least she was wearing a bathing suit. But she wasn't ready to give up yet. Toji managed to sink Asuka. And so did Zack.

The group then suggested Rei goes on next. She agreed without a hitch. After being sunk by all the children, Misato told Rei she didn't have to do it anymore.

Then Zack went up. All the female staff Zack had hit on, and Asuka and Ivana, and Misato wanted to sink him. They each did so three times over.

After Zack was Kaji. Misato wanted this one for herself. Misato managed to sink Kaji four times in four shots. Ritsuko also sunk Kaji twice.

So everyone went on until they were all soaked thoroughly. Then Misato had an idea. She told Shinji to wait aside while she told everyone else the plan. She then had Shinji close his eyes. Shinji felt someone place a ball in his hands. Then he heard what sounded like a great struggle. After about five minutes of non-stop struggling, Shinji was told to open his eyes.

"SURPRISE!" came the shout from everyone else. Shinji opened his eyes. He nearly choked on his own breath when he saw who was on the dunk tank. His father, Gendo Ikari!

"You see Shinji," said Misato. "We know he's been a lousy father to you. So here's your chance to get him back. But he's agreed to let you only have one shot. So make it count!"

"Go for it Shinji!" shouted Asuka.

"You can do it man!" shouted Toji.

"Sink your old man!" shouted Zack.

'This'll be payback you bastard!' thought Ritsuko. 'Not the kind I was hoping for, but it will do.'

Shinji and his father stared at each other for about a minute. A tumbleweed blew by. Wild West styled music began playing on the CD player.

Suddenly, a sinister smile came on Shinji's face. "You know father. I don't know exactly what went on during Third Impact, but I bet you saw Mom. And I hope she kicked your ass for what a shit father you were to me!"

Gendo could only stare with the same stare he always had.

Shinji continued. "You abandoned me when I was just a child. You've done nothing but use me when I was considered useful. We've only had one real conversation since I was four. You haven't supported me on anything I have done or wanted to do!" The sinister smile came back. "I am so going to enjoy this." He wound up. "THIS IS FOR MAKING MY LIFE A LIVING GODDAMN HELL!"

He threw the ball like a missile. (135 kph) The ball connected with the target. The target was hit so hard that it broke. As for Gendo, he went splashing into the tank. Everyone else cheered and was laughing. Even the Vice-Commander was laughing. Shinji got congratulations all around for finally sinking his father.

Later that day, they started a large bonfire. Sticks, marshmallows, chocolate, and gram crackers were passed around. Everyone was making smores. More stories were exchanged, laughs were had. For just a short while, the NERV staff could just be regular people again and not always out trying to stay alive.

Asuka tried, but she kept burning her marshmallows. She looked beside her. There was Shinji, roasting his marshmallows to perfection. "Ooooohhhhh Shinji. Be a good boy and roast me a marshmallow."

Shinji of course, bent to the will of Asuka and roasted her a marshmallow. When he was done, it was perfectly roasted on all sides. Asuka would never be able to understand how anything he cooked could be done so well.

Elsewhere around the fire, Misato was having a beer. Asuka kept count, but with the smores going around, she stopped counting after five. Misato could have had anywhere between seven and eight by now. A few others were singing songs they knew. The other kids were bugging Zack. They called him a philanderer or something.

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An hour or so later, most of the people had fallen asleep somewhere around the fire. Misato was off somewhere, throwing up after the ninth beer. She did mutter something about being so close to ten before she ran off to purge. Shinji noticed that all the children except him had fallen asleep. Asuka had practically fallen asleep on his shoulder.

Suddenly, Shinji heard someone calling his name from somewhere behind him. He decided to investigate. He laid Asuka down on a pillow and went to go check out the source of the voice.

After wandering in the Geofront for about a minute. He found a figure sitting down on a log. He couldn't see really well in the dark, so he lit the flashlight he got from Zack. The light illuminated the figure of Gendo! His father!

The anger quickly came back to Shinji. "What do you want?"

Gendo replied. "I just want a few minutes of your time. That is all."

Shinji was hesitant, but he sat on a rock, sitting about 3 metres from where Gendo sat. "So what did you want to tell me."

Gendo's expression did not change. "After the dunk tank incident, I did some thinking. I thought about my actions that I have done for the past 10 years."

"Nothing can change what you did to me!"

Gendo bowed his head down. "I just wish to explain. After Yui disappeared during an activation trial of Unit 01, it tore me apart. I was no longer the same person I used to be."

Shinji listened with interest to a man who he usually saw as the world's greatest asshole.

"The reason I abandoned you was so I could get Yui back."

Shinji was curious. "Then why did you suddenly want me back?"

"The Angels were coming to initiate 3rd Impact. Before that, not long after Yui disappeared, I used the DNA from her and Lillith to create Rei. And for 10 years I waited for the Angels to come back. I needed you and Rei to help me with this purpose."

"Then what was Asuka's purpose?"

"She was just seen as another Child who could further boost my plans along. But you and Rei were the most important."

Now Shinji was a tad boggled. "What was my purpose in your plans?"

Gendo continued to tell his story. "There were many ways to initiate 3rd Impact. One is for an EVA to come into contact with Adam, the 1st Angel. Another is for one of the Angels to come into contact with Adam. Also Rei could fuse with Adam. That was my plan. The plan I had with you was to abandon you, then suddenly have a use for you. You would be filled with so much hatred, that you wanted to help trigger my version of 3rd Impact. Where everyone's minds would be crushed together to form one being of what I believed to be paradise for mankind. But it didn't work."

"What do you mean?" asked Shinji.

"I underestimated Rei. I thought she would listen to me no matter what I told her to do. Instead of merging with Adam, she merged with Lillith forming Reilith. You were given the choice to end humanity. However, Reilith helped you show that humanity doesn't hate you, and gave you a second choice. And you chose to save everyone and return the world to the way it was before 3rd Impact by killing Reilith, thus aborting 3rd Impact at the last second."

"What? Does this mean you will try again?" Shinji asked.

"No. Even if I could, I wouldn't do it again. During the time humanity was merged together, I did see Yui, your mother once more."

"What did she say?"

"She was very, very angry with me. She told me that she was shocked that I had no shame for the atrocities I had committed, like the deaths of many people, trying to play God. But worst of all, she was angry with me for abandoning you when I should have been there."

Shinji was shocked. His father had revealed his plan that he had been scheming for 10 years. But he continued to listen.

"The reason I called you here tonight, is because I wanted to apologize. Apologize for everything I have done to you, and everyone else. If you do not wish to forgive me, I understand. I just want you to know I am deeply sorry for what I have done."

Gendo got up. "I must be going now. But before I do, I wish to give you this." He hands Shinji a box. "When you get the time, but not here, you may look at it. Goodbye Shinji."

Shinji watched his father disappear into the depths of the Geofront. Then he wandered back to the bonfire. On his way back, he opened the box. There was something inside, but the first thing he pulled out was a letter. He read it.

**Dear Shinji,**

**I know you are still reeling from the conversation we just had. I believe you will never forgive me. I do not expect you to. I am not sure how to start being the father you should have had. But this is how I will start. I have two things I wish to tell you.**

**If you ever need anything, I will do everything in my power to see that you get what you need, whether it is money or any other sort of aid.**

**I am aware of your relationship with Asuka Sohryu. I know you have made a good choice and I know you will take good care of her. You have my full support in this matter.**

**Enclosed with this letter is a gift I have for you. I know you will like it. I wish you the best, my son. **

**Sincerely,**

**Gendo Ikari, your father**

After reading the letter, Shinji pulled out the item from the box. It was a locket! He opened it up. It was a picture of his father, his mother, and himself when he was still just a baby!

The sight of this almost brought Shinji to tears. He just stared at the picture for several minutes. Then he heard another voice.

"Shinji! Where are you?" It was Asuka.

'Shit! She must be worried sick,' thought Shinji. He quickly pocketed the items. "I'm over here!"

The two quickly found each other. "There you are! You had me worried sick you idiot!"

Shinji bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry. I just went for a walk."

Surprisingly, Asuka wasn't angry. "You don't have to apologize! I'm just glad you're okay."

She gave him a quick kiss and took his hand. "Come on. We're going home."

Then Shinji remembered something. "Isn't Misato too drunk to drive?"

"Yeah she is. But for some reason, there's a limo waiting to take us home. Come on! Let's go!" she said before going to catch up to the others.

Shinji then realized who prepared the limo. "Thanks father," he said into the air. "Hey Asuka! Wait for me!"

A/N: And there you have it. Shinji's confrontation with Gendo. Hopefully, things will get better between them. Hey nick2951, I hope you liked this. I'm sorry it took so long. And if I juggled any of my facts, I'm sorry, but my memories of those events aren't perfect. But I did try my best.

Now who are the voices? It's a secret! Even I don't know who they are and I'm the author! But here's one thing I do know: There will be a battle in the next chapter. Until Number 14, be cool!


	14. Fighting for those you love

A/N: Well, let's keep rolling along!

It had all happened so fast. One day, they were all having fun, being regular people. But the next day, NERV was thrown back into First Stage Alert. Apparently, there was another enemy that would threaten NERV. But where was it?

"You're not going to believe this Ma'am," said Shigeru. "We've found the target!"

Ritsuko Akagi looked at the monitor. "But how? How could it have gotten up there without us knowing?"

Now Misato looked at the monitor. "250 miles above the earth! It's orbiting the earth?"

"Apparently," said Makoto. "It also has a strange looking satellite."

Maya now spoke up. "According to the MAGI, that's a SEELE designed EVA. And the strange satellite is a missile cannon. And the cannon is armed with a very powerful nuclear warhead!"

Everyone gasped. The danger was now much more severe than before. The damage caused by a nuclear bomb would be catastrophic.

"Couldn't we shoot it with the positron rifle?" asked Misato.

Ritsuko sighed. "No. It's way too far away. Even if its AT Field wasn't as strong as the 15th Angel's it's just too far away." The phone rang. "Yes. Understood." Ritsuko turned to the staff. "We are now on Second Stage Alert."

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EVA Launching Bay

The Children had already suited up, but there was no order to launch yet. Misato then came in to brief the Children.

"Kids, I'm not sure how we will handle this one. There's an EVA currently in space."

"What does that mean?" asked Shinji.

"It means to attack us from outer space," replied Misato. "It has a satellite in position to fire at NERV. It will be firing a nuclear missile."

Just like in Central Dogma, the kids gasped too. They also knew the dangers of a nuclear attack. Then Ivana spoke up. "So how will we handle this threat?"

"It's slowly orbiting earth," said Misato. "It will be in range of NERV within 26 hours. Our best bet for the moment is to launch the EVAs in certain locations around NERV to catch the missile and use the AT Field to contain as much of the blast as possible. Success of this plan is not absolute but it's the best we have unless we find something better. This could possibly be the end of NERV, as we know it. You are to go into your entry plugs right now."

"Why do we have to go now?" asked Asuka.

Misato explained. "When you go into the entry plugs, we are going to freeze you inside the plugs."

Toji was a little spooked at the thought of being frozen alive. "F-F-Frozen?"

"Don't worry. It's completely safe. We'll simply freeze the LCL. That will put your bodies in a state of suspended animation. You can stay frozen for up to 48 hours if necessary. When we need you, we will unfreeze you."

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NERV HQ- Battle stations (Nuclear Countdown 25:00:00)

"Now," said Ritsuko. She had given the order for the pilots to be frozen in suspended animation.

"Yes ma'am," said Maya. "Lowering temperature now."

On the visuals for the pilots, they felt the sensation of feeling really cold, then their vitals slowed down until their entire body's production came to a complete stop as a result of being frozen by the LCL.

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Gendo Ikari's Office (Nuclear Countdown 23:59:24)

Gendo Ikari had called all high-ranking personnel into his office. No one knew what was on the Commander's mind unless he chose to speak it.

"Commander, have you come up with an idea?" asked Misato

"Yes we have. But it will not be an easy task," replied Gendo.

Vice-Commander Fuyutski too this time to speak. "Our solution is this. We put an EVA into space and attack directly."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Misato.

"We've been in contact with the Canadian and American governments," replied Ritsuko. "Canada and the United States have been working closely with space technology. The Americans can get an EVA into space. Canada can provide the equipment we need to support an EVA when it reaches space."

"How many EVAs can we send?" asked Misato again.

"Just one unfortunately," replied the VC.

"The chosen pilot for this operation is the Sixth Child, Zack Harper," said Gendo.

Ritsuko spoke up again. "The United States will provide us with three of its NASA shuttles: Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor. It will take three shuttles to get the EVA into space. Canada will provide us with Type-E equipment, making it possible for an EVA to fight in space. And Unit 05 has been designed to be able to use the Type-E equipment. So the only thing left to do is to wake Zack up from his state of suspended animation."

"Wake him up," ordered the Commander.

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The last thing Zack remembered was being in his entry plug. Then the LCL got really cold. Then nothing. Suddenly, the LCL started feeling warm again. But all his body parts felt really numb. As the LCL warmed up, he could feel his body again. He opened his eyes. There was Misato on the other side of the com. "H-H-H-Hey M-M-M-Misato." He was still obviously very cold.

"Rise and shine Casanova," said Misato in a cheery voice. "We've got a job for you."

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"Woohoo! I get to go into space!" Zack was happy at hearing the news.

"This isn't a field trip you know," said Ritsuko. "You're the only pilot going up there. So your success or failure will impact the entire fate of NERV."

"Party pooper."

Ritsuko just remember something. "Oh yeah Zack. The Canadian government made this plugsuit for you."

Zack was a tad confused. "What's the difference between this one and the one I use? It's still green."

"Just put it on and I'll explain when you get back."

Two minutes later Zack came back with the new plugsuit on. "Hey cool! There's a Canadian flag on the back! Now I feel like I'm really representing Canada!"

Ritsuko explained the functions of Zack's new plugsuit. "This plugsuit is probably one of the best we've ever come up with. This plugsuit examines your body temperature and makes sure you won't be too hot or too cold. The flag was just an extra feature."

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NERV HQ - EVA training room (Nuclear Countdown 21:02:56)

"How's he doing?" asked Misato. Her and Ritsuko were watching Zack on the (repaired) virtual simulator.

"He's still having difficulty getting the hang of it. Being able to use the many jet thrusters to go wherever you want isn't as easy as it seems. But he is slowly doing better. We do have a problem though."

"What could that be?" asked a curious Misato.

"With all the functions, it will take up a large amount of power. He'll only have one hour of power with the battery pack we can give to Unit 05. And after that, he'll only have the usual five minutes."

"And that means…"

Ritsuko finished. "It means we will have to launch it when the cannon gets rather close to being able to fire upon us. He won't have a lot of time to stop these terrorists."

A thought just came to Misato's mind. "Oh and what about the other pilots?"

"They'll be kept in suspended animation until two hours to blastoff."

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(Nuclear Countdown 4:25:21) (Countdown to Blastoff 3:15:21)

Overtime, many things had happened. EVA Unit 05 was transferred to America. Unit 05 and its pilot would be launched from Area 51, The United States' most secret military base. During this time, NASA had arranged for the three space shuttles to be sent to Area 51.

"_So we'll set it up like this_," Ritsuko was telling the engineers how to have the shuttles take Unit 05 into space. "_Have the shuttles surround Unit 05 in a triangle, and with all three attached to it, there should be enough power to get it off the ground_."

A/N: In this fanfic, Ritsuko knows English.

Misato felt really out of place here. She didn't understand one word of English. So she was really confused when she heard the Americans speak in English. The only people here that knew Japanese that she knew were Ritsuko and Zack. And Ritsuko was busy explaining how to blast Unit 05 into space. And Zack was getting some rest before he went into Unit 05.

To kill some time, Misato took a look at Unit 05. It had lots of extra armour on it. Probably to protect it when it would leave the earth's atmosphere. And it had jet thrusters built into its feet, its back, its shoulders, and it would also be equipped with a positron rifle and a progressive sword for distanced combat and up-close combat.

Suddenly, she heard a voice. In Japanese too! "Hey Misato!"

She turned around. It was Zack. He had his plugsuit on and already seemed raring to go. "Zack. Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Nah. Can't sleep even if I wanted to. I just can't shake the butterflies in my stomach. I just wanna get this over with."

"Same here."

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NERV HQ- Briefing room (Nuclear Countdown 3:10:00) (Blastoff 2:00:00)

The kids had all been awoken from suspended animation. They were briefed on what was going on. Asuka was jealous of the fact that Casanova was going into space. But they were then all led into a room where they could watch the space battle. (Courtesy of Rogers.) It was on a big-screen TV too. But they were told that if Zack was defeated or they had 30 minutes before a nuclear attack, they were to get in their EVAs and try to catch the nuke before it would hit NERV.

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Area 51 (Nuclear Countdown 1:12:00) (Blastoff 0:02:00)

It was almost time. Everything was ready. The shuttles were set. Unit 05 was ready to go. Zack was more than ready to fight. The only thing that kept Zack from the next frontier was the stupid countdown clock.

Ritsuko came on the com. "_You ready Zack_?"

"_Yes ma'am_."

"_Keep in mind that until you get into space_, _the G-Force will make it difficult to move for a few minutes_. _And once you get into space_, _move west along the equator while in orbit_. _You should be able to catch up with the enemy EVA within 40 minutes_. _Understand_?"

Zack gave his usual mock salute. "_Yes ma'am_!"

The com signed off. Not long after, the countdown began. "30! 29! 28! 27! 26! 25! (skip ahead to 10)10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! We have liftoff."

The three shuttles' rocket boosters began to activate. They then slowly lifted off, taking Unit 05 with them into the air.

'Ritsuko was right,' thought Zack. The G-Force was tough for anyone to handle, especially a 14-year old kid. But he wouldn't let it get the better of him. He knew it would only last a few minutes. Then he'd be in space and be weightless. But to his disappointment, he remembered that the LCL in the plug regulated the gravity. 'So much for floating'.

After a few minutes, the G-Force stopped. Zack then realized he was in space. He remembered what he had to do. He activated the leg and back thrusters, and sped along the equator, hoping to find and destroy the son of a bitch.

"_Unit 05 is now orbiting the earth and is in pursuit of the enemy EVA_," said an Area 51 technician. "_And the shuttles are orbiting in the opposite direction and are making their returns_."

'It's all up that philanderer now,' thought Misato.

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Space - 250 miles above the earth. (Nuclear Countdown 8 minutes, 19 seconds)

Zack continued his orbit. He had 20 minutes of battery power left. Then he spotted two strange looking things floating in space. There was his target! The EVA appeared to see him and started shooting at him.

Misato came on the com. "Unit 05! Prepare for combat!"

Unit 05 evaded the attacks and returned fire with his own positron rifle. After several rounds of shooting at each other, they EVAs charged in for melee combat. Zack drew his progressive sword. To his surprise, the enemy EVA had one too. So now Zack had about 18 minutes left on his battery pack and he wasn't making any progress in penetrating his enemy's defense. He attacked with an overhead cleave. The EVA blocked and tried a horizontal slash. Zack then used his shoulder booster to rocket out of the way. However, the EVA fired a disruptor missile from close range!

"Oh my god!" shouted Misato "Zack are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. But that sure didn't tickle."

Suddenly, a technician spoke up. "The battery pack has malfunctioned." That was the doomsday message everyone had been dreading. Zack now had only 5 minutes to stop the EVA and then stop the satellite.

Zack tapped into his rage and assaulted his opponent with a flurry of assaults. He had less than 5 minutes, so he chose to attack in a berserker fashion.

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Gendo Ikari's Office

"This doesn't look good," said Fuyutski. "He's got less than 5 minutes to save humanity. What if he fails?"

"Then it will be the eventual extinction of the human race," replied Gendo Ikari.

The VC spoke up once more. "Is there any other way should the Sixth fail to stop the satellite?"

"There is another way, but I'm not sure he'll be able to harness it."

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EVA Timer (2:00) (Nuclear Countdown 5:00)

Zack kept up his assaults. He tried his best not to look at the clock that symbolized his doomsday countdown. He had to stop it at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing his life.

He tried a vertical slash, but the EVA saw it and sidestepped it, and kicked him in the side. He then tried a spin-slash, but that failed too.

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Tokyo-3 - Inside EVA Unit 02

From Asuka's point of view, it seemed the inevitable was happening. Zack was going to lose this battle. She looked over at Shinji who was in Unit 01. A tear came down her eye. The last two days were the best days of her life. She was finally with someone who she genuinely loved, and who genuinely loved her the same way. And now with this nuke attack looming, it seemed like the end. 'It just isn't fair!' she thought to herself. When NERV got destroyed, SEELE would invade, and would most likely kill them all.

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Slowly but surely, Zack was wearing down his opponent. The EVA gave its all, but could not break through someone who had something to fight for. The swords clashed again, but then Zack tried a gutsy move. He apparently let his opponent push him back, but as he advanced, Zack sidestepped to the side, pulled out the progressive knife, and stabbed the cockpit! The EVA began shaking violently as a result and dropped the sword. Now facing an apparently defenseless opponent, Zack proceed to take 4 more cuts, cutting the EVA into several pieces. The result was an explosion.

"All right! Now for that satellite!" he said aloud. But then, the EVA's power just died out! He checked the clock. HE WAS OUT OF TIME! "_OH FUCK_!"

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Shinji was horrified at what he saw. Zack's EVA had run out of power. And he wasn't able to stop the satellite. It was going to fire in less than 3 minutes! And then the end of NERV was imminent. He looked at Asuka. He felt sick to his stomach. He wouldn't be able to protect her like a man should do. Shinji wanted to be able to do something, but he wasn't sure what would do.

Then he heard a voice. "The EVA doesn't just respond to hate. It can also respond to love as well." It sounded like his mother.

"M-mother?"

"You need to protect her."

Shinji was confused. "Her? You mean Asuka?"

"Yes."

"How do I do that? I want to save her and everyone. But I don't know how."

"Listen to your heart. It will respond to you."

Shinji's eyes open with a look of realization.

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This looked like the imminent end now for sure. Asuka had resigned herself to a fate to die all alone without anyone at her side. She felt horrible all over. Suddenly, as she looked outside, Unit 01 began acting strange It appeared to be doubled over as if in pain. She heard Shinji scream over the com.

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"This can't be! How could Shinji's sync ratio be at 500?" Maya was horrified at the data that appeared before her.

"What? 500?" Even the Vice-Commander was surprised.

All the while, Shinji continued to scream.

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Nuclear Countdown 1:00

Asuka watched in horror. Unit 01 was doubled over still. She could hear Shinji's scream still. He appeared to be in extreme pain. Then Unit 01 floated into the sky. Suddenly, it spread out its arms and legs. What she observed next shocked her. Unit 01 had grown orange spectral wings! When the transformation was over, Shinji's screaming stopped.

The purple EVA landed back on the ground. The behemoth bent its knees, and using its angelic powers, took off into the sky at an astounding speed.

30 seconds left

Unit 01 continued to fly up. Whether the heat was too much for Shinji to handle or not didn't seem to stop him. Asuka could hear his scream once more as Unit 01 blew through the atmosphere.

15 seconds left

Unit 01 blew through all the atmospheric stages as if they were nothing. It was truly an amazing sight to see. It quickly passed through the exosphere, officially putting him in space.

7 seconds left

Unit 01 was almost within attacking range. But could he make it in time?

6!

5!

4!

3!

2!

1!

What happened right before the nuke launched was Unit 01 plowing right through the satellite like it was nothing. The satellite with the nuke created a large explosion. But luckily, since they were still in space, the radioactive particles would never enter the atmosphere.

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NERV HQ - Battlestation

"The satellite has been destroyed," said Makoto.

"Look! Unit 01 is taking Unit 05 back down to earth!" said Shigeru

"And Shinji's sync score is still holding at 500!" reported Maya.

Everyone watched as Unit 01 flew back through the atmosphere carrying Unit 05 and eventually landed outside Tokyo-3. Then it suddenly collapsed!

Asuka brought her hands to her mouth in horror. Usually something bad alwayshappened to Shinji when his sync ratio hit 400, let alone he's never done 500 before!"No! He can't be dead!" She activated Unit 02 and went after Shinji and Zack. By the time she got there, she saw Zack had gotten out of Unit 05 and was trying to force open Unit 01's entry plug. But coming through the atmosphere made it really hot. But then Asuka used Unit 02 to rip the top off the plug so they could free Shinji.

Zack then quickly pulled an unconscious Third Child out of the entry plug and tried to slap some life back into Shinji. Asuka then got out of her Unit 02 and also tried to wake Shinji up.

"Hey Shinji! You in there!" said Zack. "Shit. He's notbreathing!"

"Shinji! Shinji! Wake up! Please! Wake up!" shouted a hysterical Asuka. Shinji wasn't responding."SHINNNNNNNNNNJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"


	15. Asuka, the Caretaker

A/N: I just want to say a little about myself. I have an odd sense of humour. It only ticks in at odd moments. So I love throwing stuff that I think will make people laugh, but at the same time, keep the serious moments for when it matters.

And as you know, I alternate from scene of battle to one of relaxation and fun.

By the way Incognito Girl, I'm not sure if Zack is what you'd call a SI, cuz that's not my real name, but I did stick him into this story.

Here it is! Chapter 15! 33 reviews and over 4,000 hits! You can easily say I'm a happy guy. My goal is to hit 100 reviews. And I'm 33 percent of the way there! After hitting a sync ratio of 500, Shinji was found inside the entry plug unconscious and NOT breathing. Is he dead? Or is he alive? Read a couple lines down and the answers will be revealed. Now as I always say "Now on with the story"!

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NERV Hospital (Seems like we end up here a lot eh?)

"Why does he always have to be the hero?"

Asuka was going over in her mind the events that the day had held. First there was the threat of a nuclear attack from outer space. The pilot chosen to fight the "outta this world" battle was not her love interest Shinji, but a guy she couldn't stand by the name of Zack Harper. Zack had successfully defeated the EVA, but he had run out of power before he could stop the satellite. It seemed like the end for her, Shinji, and everyone else at NERV. But then Shinji did the unthinkable, he made his EVA go berserk and hit a 500 sync ratio, which not only gave him angel wings, but the power needed to stop the satellite from firing the nuke. His last act apparently destroyed the satellite and rescued Zack.

But afterwards, they found him unconscious and not breathing! "He can't be dead," she sobbed to herself.

She had been crying for a good hour since he was brought into NERV's medical wing. Preliminary reports indicated he wasn't going to make it.

Just then Dr. Akagi came out of the ER and went to see the German who was curled up in a chair crying. "Asuka?"

Asuka shot up when she knew who it was. "Dr. Akagi! Is he going to live? Please tell me!"

Ritsuko had a smile on her face. "It wasn't easy, but with the data we have on Shinji now, the MAGI says he's going to make it."

Now Asuka had a smile on her face. "Thank you Ritsuko. When can I go see him?"

"Not yet Asuka. He hasn't been stabilized yet. It may be a few days before you can see him. A 500 sync ratio means synchronizing with the EVA five times more than what the average person can handle. Most of Shinji's vital organs shut down from exhaustion when his EVA grew the angel wings. But still though, you have to give yourself and Zack some credit. You two saved his life."

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Flashback.

Zack had an idea. "Asuka! Help me apply CPR!"

"What?"

"We don't have time! I'll pump his chest and you breathe into his mouth."

Asuka wanted to hesitate because it would look like she was kissing him so Zack could torment her. But he knew the seriousness of the situation. And so did she.

She plugged his nose and breathed into his mouth. Zack pressed his hands on Shinji's chest in hopes of restarting his heart.

"Shit! It's like every organ just shut off. One-and-two and one-and-two. Asuka and Zack kept up a rhythmic beat while trying to save the boy's life.

After about a minute of "one-and-two" Zack finally said something else. "Asuka! I got a heartbeat! Is he breathing?"

Asuka stopped breathing into his mouth. Yes! Shinji was breathing! "He's breathing Zack!" Shinji was alive, but his breathing was heavily laboured.

About 10 seconds after they revived Shinji the NERV medical crew arrived.

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Misato's Apartment

The last 24 hours had been a terrifying ordeal for Misato. The fact that Shinji was going to die almost tore her in two. She didn't love Shinji the way Asuka did, but having him around almost made her feel like a mother. She figured this was how it felt for a mother to lose a child.

Though it was standard NERV procedure that the matter be kept quiet, she did tell some of Shinji's friends what had happened. Kensuke had brought a Get Well Soon card for Shinji that was signed by his former classmates. Hikari had brought over tons of flowers. Misato figured that Shinji would never truly understand the real impact he had made on people lives by piloting those disgusting EVAs.

The kids were also greatly affected by what had happened to Shinji. Rei seemed even more withdrawn, only to ask every now and then if Shinji's condition had improved. Zack just sat and watched TV all day, not even bothering to go out and pick up girls. Ivana had spent more time meditating than ever before. And Asuka would wander aimlessly about in the apartment while clutching the Shinji plush doll while just waiting for the phone to ring.

Even Shinji's father cared somewhat about his son's condition. Misato was angry with the Commander at first for not going to see his son, but she did cool down a little when Ritsuko told her that Gendo himself personally handpicked the medical staff looking after Shinji.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Asuka went to get it first, but Misato beat her to it.

"Katsuragi residence." A pause. "Oh hey Ritsuko. How is he?" Another pause. "Really?" Another pause. "Awesome! Asuka will be glad to hear that!" A pause. "Okay. You can count on that! Later."

Misato put the phone back down. She noticed the look on Asuka's face pleaded with her to tell her how Shinji is doing.

"Good news Asuka. They just stabilized him. He's going to make a full recovery."

Sometime later, Misato may have come to regret telling Asuka that Shinji was going to make it. Because about 10 times that night, Asuka bugged Misato to let her go see Shinji. But Misato said not until tomorrow. (She stopped counting after 10. There may have been many more "I WANNA SEE SHINJI NOW!")

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A secret conference room. (I've looked, but my spy network haven't found out where these guys hold their meetings) Only a few SEELE members could get to this one.

SEELE had obviously put someone up to the task of making sure their latest plan succeeded, but they were angry that it had failed again!

SEELE 05: This is outrageous! We cannot afford these attacks to keep failing!

SEELE 09: Well this is what happens when we choose to fund terrorists to get rid of NERV!

SEELE 01: Do not worry. The preparations for the next attack are almost complete.

SEELE 02: Are you sure this will work?

SEELE 01: I am sure. NERV will never expect an attack like this!

The four SEELE computers start laughing.

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Daylight had come pretty quickly for the Katsuragi residence. Today was the day they'd go visit Shinji at the NERV hospital.

They arrived at NERV at 9:30am. Misato flashed her ID card at the receptionist. The receptionist showed them where Shinji's room was. Strangely enough, he was back in room 506, the same room in which he was in last time when the kids fought the Jet Alone. After a minute of walking, they reached room 506. Asuka was the first to enter. The others were going to follow suit, but Misato motioned for the others to wait outside.

Asuka simply took a seat by Shinji's bedside. Shinji still had trouble breathing on his own, so he was hooked up to a life support system. The nurse that was just in said he should be waking up just about anytime.

To her joy, Shinji began stirring. He then slowly opened his eyes. He looked around the room. After taking a few seconds to figure out where he was, he noticed Asuka sitting in a chair next to his bed. He tried to speak to her, but for some reason he just couldn't say anything.

Asuka smiled at him. "Don't worry. The nurse prepared for an event like this." She hands him a marker and a notepad. "Now write something!"

Shinji smiles for the first time since he woke up. He has difficulty using his arms. But he manages to write HOW LONG?

"Ah. You must mean how long you've been here." Shinji nodded. "Well you've been here for almost a day now."

Shinji now wrote WHAT HAPPENED?

"You want to know what happened?" said Asuka slightly raising her voice. "You almost got yourself KILLED trying to be a hero again you jerk!" The thought of Shinji dying almost makes her want to cry.

SORRY

"You don't have to apologize. I know that if you didn't stop the satellite, NERV would have been destroyed and us not too long afterwards," she replied. Her heartwarming smile came back.

DID FOR YOU

Asuka gasped. 'He did that just for me?' "Are you serious?"

LOVE YOU. WANT YOU SAFE.

"I guess that's one of the reasons I love you. You always put everyone else ahead of yourself, even at the expense of your own life. Well, since you saved me, I have to give you a reward."

She leans over him and plants on him a very powerful kiss. When she is done, Shinji is red on the face. He picks up the marker and notepad again and writes BEHIND YOU.

Asuka turns and looks around. She sees Misato, Zack, Toji, Rei, and Ivana were watching her. They had smiles on their faces as if to show support. But Asuka turns about as red as a tomato.

"This hospital is going to have five more patients when I'm through with them!"

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The next day had come pretty quickly. Misato noticed that Asuka's spirit was much better now. Asuka made good on her promise to hunt the others down. She had success beating up Toji. Zack also fell victim to the onslaught. However, Asuka wouldn't dare try knocking out Misato or Ivana. When Asuka went hunting for Rei, she was nowhere to be found.

Misato got another call from the hospital. More good news. Shinji was to be released from the hospital, for he had made a very quick recovery. However, he still couldn't talk for at least a week, and he couldn't move very well on his own either.

"And that's how it's gonna be Asuka. You are going to spend the week looking after Shinji," Misato had said later.

"WHAT? WHY ME?" Asuka wasn't big on the fact that she'd have to spend an entire week looking after the Third Child.

As always though, Misato's hand was always much better than the German's. "Well, if you really don't want to do it, that's okay. I'll just have either Rei or Ivana look after Shinji."

Just as Misato planned, Asuka got jealous of the thought of some other girl other than herself looking after Shinji. "You know what Misato. I think that by default I'll be looking after Shinji. Those two are obviously unqualified! Ivana is too brash and Rei doesn't know a thing about care taking!"

"Then it's settled! You'd better hope Shinji isn't very demanding!"

The necessary arrangements were made. Shinji would spend the week on the pullout-couch where Zack slept. Asuka would sleep on another couch nearby just in case Shinji needed something. Zack would move back into Shinji's room temporarily. So this would also throw off Zack's plan to hack the parental controls on the TV. He said something about being so close to finally cracking the code.

So at about 8:00pm, Zack had finally brought Shinji home. Since Shinji couldn't walk very well yet, so Zack had to use a NERV issued wheelchair to get the Third Child home. To Zack's surprise, Asuka took charge of the situation. She wheeled Shinji into the TV room, and helped him take his seat on the couch.

Asuka decided to brief Shinji on what was going on. "Well Misato has decided that you should sleep in the TV room because it is much closer to the bathroom. And I'm going to sleep on this couch over here." 'Yeah right,' she told herself. And I'll be serving you breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'll also be helping you take your baths too. Don't you get any ideas now pervert! And that's about it. You can change the channels and I'm sure you can eat without me spoon-feeding you! And if you need anything, here's a bell to call me."

Shinji got out his notepad and wrote another message.

THANK YOU

"Hey! No problem. Just don't call me for stupid reasons. I'm gonna go make your dinner now." She kissed him once and went off to the kitchen.

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Elsewhere, in the room that is also Misato's office, Zack and Ivana were setting something up. Rei decided to inquire into what Zack and Ivana were putting together.

"What are you doing?"

"We're setting up a ping-pong table!" said Zack. "I'm gonna show Ivana who's the boss!"

"When this is over, you will be annihilated," said Ivana in response to Zack's statement.

Misato had entered the room now. She was curious too. "Ah. A ping-pong set. Maybe we should have a tournament."

Zack was surprised. "You can play Misato?"

"Of course! What do you think NERV personnel do on their breaks? We have a recreational room in the base. And there's a ping-pong set. I was one of the best," said Misato with a smirk on her face."

Zack stood up to her. "Well, if you even want to have a remote chance, you'd better play sober. Otherwise you'll be too dazed to even know it's your serve."

Misato had a weird look on her face. "Is that a challenge?"

"If that's what they call it in Japan," said Zack.

Ivana had an idea. "Rei, do you wish to play?"

"Why?"

Ivana decided Rei would need an explanation. "It's fun. And you don't have to be all alone. If you want to play, then just say so."

Rei smiled. "Very well. I shall take part in your activity."

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After Shinji had eaten dinner, he and Asuka decided to watch a movie while the others were doing something else. It was only 9:30pm. The others were playing a ping-pong game. Even Pen-Pen went to watch the game. Asuka was enjoying the time she was spending with Shinji. She found it hard to believe that she couldn't stand time some time ago. She still really couldn't understand how he managed to heal the hole that was in her heart.

Asuka tried to focus on the movie, but she couldn't keep her attention on it. Her attention was mostly set on the boy she had cuddled up to. It was a shame he wouldn't be able to really talk for about a week. And he wouldn't be able to constantly scrawl out notes either. Asuka could only hope he could read her actions when the moments came. She rested her head against his chest, while he ran his hand through her red hair.

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Zack and Ivana were playing a warm-up game. They were both really good. Ivana was the best in her platoon in Russia. Zack was the champion back in Canada in the province of British Columbia. Both would have considered the Olympics if the Angels had never shown their faces. And since Rei was in the tourney too, it would be a 4-person tournament with Pen-Pen as the referee.

The schedule was:

Misato vs. Ivana

Zack vs. Rei

Ivana vs. Zack

Rei vs. Misato

Ivana vs. Rei

Zack vs. Misato

Then it would go whoever finished last would go up against whomever finished first. And second vs. third.

After Zack and Ivana were finished, Misato took to the table to take on Ivana. She claimed she didn't need a warm-up to teach Ivana a thing or two. They would play to 21 and had to win by two points to claim the match.

36 points later, Ivana had won the match 21-16.

"I see. So this is how you play," said Rei. She took her position one side of the table. Zack took his place on the other side.

"This is gonna be quick," boasted Zack.

10 points later, the score was tied at 5. Zack was shocked. "How do you learn so fast? And how come you're playing like Ivana?"

"I watched her play. I believe it is your serve," said Rei.

"Great. One Ivana is enough."

To everyone's surprise, Rei had defeated Zack by a score of 21-18. And on her first try too!

"Damn!" said Zack. "Stupid fast-learners!"

But now it was Ivana vs. Zack. And Zack was NOT going to let Ivana win. Zack for some reason was seeing this as a rematch of the 1972 Summit Series.

"Zack. This is table tennis, not hockey," Ivana reminded him.

"It doesn't matter what sport it is, it's the principle! My country's honour is on the line!"

"Whatever. Let's play."

It was a fierce match. But Zack would eventually prevail, winning by a score of 25-23. This may have been bad for the others, because it bolstered Zack's ego.

The next game was Misato vs. Rei. Misato was sure she could beat Rei. But to everyone's shock, Rei had now copied Zack's style and would alternate between his and Ivana's style. This threw off Misato and Rei won 21-12.

A/N: Misato (0-2). Zack (1-1). Ivana (1-1). Rei (2-0)

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Shinji tried to watch the movie as best as he could. It was 11:00pm now. The others were still doing their table-tennis tournament. However, Asuka was having more difficulty watching the movie than he was.

Eventually, Shinji cracked. He turned off the TV and with whatever strength he had; he turned his attention toward the redhead. Asuka quickly read his signal.

"Just relax," she said. She then proceeded to kiss him. He tried to respond, but he was just too weak to try. So he let Asuka have her way. She deepened the kiss by sitting on his lap, and wrapping her arms around his neck.

After a minute, she broke the kiss. She gave a look of mock disappointment. "Aww. It's not as fun when they don't fight back. But that's okay. I can understand."

What happened next totally caught Asuka by surprise. Shinji had summoned up his remaining strength. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to him.

Asuka was totally thrown off by Shinji pulling her to him and kissing her the way he did. She returned his kiss with everything she had.

After about 3 minutes, Asuka noticed Shinji was putting no effort into his kissing. It took her a couple seconds, but she then realized he had fallen asleep. She smiled at the totally innocent look on his face. She wrapped her arms around him and fell asleep not too long afterwards.

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The tournament was still going on strong. Ivana had defeated Rei 22-20 and Misato had beaten Zack 21-19. The four decided to call it a night. As they went off to their rooms, they passed by a sleeping Shinji and Asuka.

"Aww, how cute," said Misato.

"To think, he has a steady girlfriend before me," said Zack.

Ivana turned to look at Zack. "Well maybe if you looked at the way you look at females, you'd see why".

Rei took this chance to interject. "If Pilot Sohryu knew we were looking at her like this, there is a high probability she will get angry."

"Yeah. So off to bed you three," said Misato shoving them away from the TV room. She then went to look back at Shinji and Asuka. "Take care of her Shinji. And yourself. You're her knight in shining armour, or rather her pilot in an EVA." She then left the room.

"Man. I need a beer!"

A/N: And there you have it! Sorry, I'm not good at writing fluff scenes. And Asuka has to spend the week looking after Shinji. What if there's another attack? How will they handle combat without Shinji? Will I get paid this week? Find out! Until the 16th, be cool!


	16. Evil Awakens

A/N: Well, I've got my plot set. No, the other chapters were not pointless. The other chapters were something else leading up to where we are now.

And in two chapters time, we'll see the introduction of a new character.

The morning had started with a ruckus in the kitchen at 8:30am. Zack was up as it was his turn to make breakfast. While he was in the middle of making scrambled eggs and bacon for the others, Asuka had shoved him out of the way so she could make Shinji pancakes. This started a fight between the two.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm making Shinji something to eat!"

"Well don't you think to look what someone else is doing before you do something?"

"I can't believe you! You put yourself ahead of others! This is the kind of selfish attitude we can't afford to have!"

This would have kept up if Ivana didn't pinch their shoulders and stop the two from fighting. Their fighting also woke Misato from her hangover. She had passed out at the kitchen table last night.

So with Ivana acting as the peacekeeper for the Canadian and the German, the two finally finished creating their respective meals. Asuka made a very large pancake for her and Shinji to share, while Zack had made the eggs and bacon.

"YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Misato had officially gotten over her hangover.

Shinji woke up to Asuka poking him in the shoulder. So he wrote GOOD MORNING. WHAT'S UP?

"What do you think?" replied Asuka. "I brought you your breakfast idiot. And you'd better enjoy it too. You won't believe the trouble I went through just to get this."

Shinji, out of curiosity wrote WHAT HAPPENED?

"Well if you must know, Casanova decided to put himself above everyone else, especially you, and tried to hog the whole kitchen to himself. And since I have someone I had to look after, I had to be assertive and try to get some space so I could cook. Of course he can't see the difference between right and wrong, so he decides he wants to fight. I was going to kick his balls into his head but the Strong Lady stopped me!"

Shinji had a smile come to his face. He wrote THEY INCONSIDERATE.

Asuka liked it when someone would back her up even when she was in the wrong. "You bet they're inconsiderate. That's why I took the job of looking after you. Now let's eat! This one's big enough for the both of us!"

Misato looked over her NERV issued schedule. The sync tests were today. But not until 6:00pm. And tonight was a full moon, she had noticed on her calendar. On top of that, Shinji wouldn't be able to take the sync tests until he was medically cleared to do so. She only hoped Asuka wouldn't protest to her looking after Shinji while she did her sync test.

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NERV HQ - Sync Test room (Falling asleep during the test is prohibited for Zack Harper)

"So how are they doing?" asked Misato.

"Well Rei is always the same old, same old," replied Ritsuko. "Guess."

"75."

"You got it," said the doctor. "But look at this. Asuka's sync level has shot up to 77. What could cause that?"

"Oh you don't know?" said Misato. "Asuka has a new boyfriend. And they spend all sorts of time together."

"Who?"

Misato decided to beat around the bush. "Well let's say he can't talk right now, he's in a wheelchair, he's saved the world several times over, he has the highest Angel death count, his father is the world's biggest asshole, and he is the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 01."

Ritsuko turned to Shinji. Shinji by now was all red in the face. "Aww congratulations Shinji," she commented. "You made that girl happy. I'm happy for you too." 'Hopefully he could be a father one day and won't end up like you-know-who!'

The doctor then proceeded to check Toji's score. Only a dismal 54. It seemed that Toji and EVA didn't go together very well. Ivana's score registered a 73. And Zack's was a 69.

Suddenly, the alarm went off. This meant NERV was going to be attacked again. At least the pilots would be ready to go.

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NERV HQ - Battle station

"It's sitting outside Tokyo-3," said Makoto. "It's sending a transmission."

Suddenly, a visual com came on the screen. It was an American! "Ah, so you are NERV." Looks like he can speak Japanese too. "SEELE is giving you fifteen minutes for your pathetic commander to come up with the guts to surrender."

Gendo just stared at the man blankly. "Launch Units 00, 03, and 04. Have Units 02, and 05 on standby."

The American was surprised at the immediate refusal to surrender, but was ready to fight anyway. "Gendo Ikari, I'll have you know that your band of brats has no chance against a power that I possess. A power that's older than the Angels themselves!" The com went blank.

"A power older than the Angels?" said Misato. "What does he mean?"

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Outside Tokyo-3

The three EVAs had attached their umbilical cables and prepared to engage the EVA built by SEELE. This EVA looked just like one from the EVA Series. However, SEELE must have figured out that human pilots work better. It was a three-on-one battle, but the enemy EVA appeared to hold its own.

As the battle raged, the EVA appeared to be focusing most of its attention on Toji. Ivana figured out that it planned to systematically eliminate the weakest ones first.

"Toji. Retreat. He wishes to have you destroyed first."

Toji refused though. "No. I may not like piloting this thing, but I can't just leave you two out here!" He threw a punch at the EVA. It block and countered, sending his EVA flying. Toji was okay, but a tad dazed.

So it was up to Rei and Ivana. The two attacked in synchronization. With a punch to the gut, punch to the face, and kick each sent the EVA flying. It seemed that pure girl power had prevailed.

Suddenly, the EVA snapped up and fired a rifle at Rei. She was caught completely off guard and Unit 00 took some serious damage. So now it was just Ivana all alone against the American.

Ivana decided to give the American a stern warning. "I'll let you know I specialize in one-on-one combat. If you know what is good for you, you will end this hopeless battle and surrender peacefully."

The American looked like he went crazy. "Correction. This battle is hopeless for YOU! Why should I surrender when I can do THIS?"

He began muttering something that Ivana could not understand.

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EVA Launching Bay - Inside Unit 02

Asuka didn't like the fact that she was ordered to stay behind in the launching bay. But then again, she could be in the same state as Shinji is. She watched the fight from her entry plug on the visual com. She watched as Toji and Rei were taken out of the fight. And now Ivana was alone against him. And now the American was muttering something.

"Strange. I've heard that somewhere before," she said aloud. And then it came to her. "MEIN GOTT!"

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Battlefield

Ivana was boggled at whatever the American was muttering. But then the unthinkable happened. A large pillar of fire appeared behind him. This pillar began to circle them both, creating a wall of fire as it moved. Then it completed the circle. Next a raging line of fire burned through the ground. The lines created a five-point star.

Ivana was a tad frightened. "What the hell is going on?" The EVA in front of her looked like it was being possessed. Suddenly, a mark appeared on its forehead. It was the same mark the fire created. And when she looked at the cockpit of the enemy EVA, the American's eyes had turned blood red and he also had the same mark on his forehead.

His voice alone could tell you that he was now pure evil. "Like it little girl? It's a spell called the Seal of Diablos! And we're trapped in here until the fight between us is over. And only the winner goes free! The loser's body and soul will burn in hell for eternity!"

"This seal you have conjured does not frighten me. Let's fight," declared Ivana.

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NERV HQ - Battle Station

"I don't get this!" said Shigeru. "It read like an EVA, but once that weird fire pattern showed up, it now reads a black waveform pattern."

"The MAGI are unable to determine what that Seal of Diablos is," reported Makoto. "It would be witchcraft for we know."

'This doesn't make sense,' thought Gendo. 'After 3rd Impact, there should be no more Angels or anything of the sort.'

Shigeru spoke up again. "The MAGI does say that if Ivana defeats the EVA, it is highly likely that the Seal may disappear, as its caster is dead."

Gendo gave his order. "Unit 04, destroy it."

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Ivana attacked. Usually, the battle would be over in a matter of seconds. But however, Ivana had a lot to learn about the Seal of Diablos. Apparently, not only did it give the user an ugly makeover, but also it gave the user an immense amount of power, and a guaranteed 100 sync ratio. It knocked her over to her surprise.

But she wasn't scared. In fact she didn't mind at all. The fact that he had the upper hand meant she would get the challenge she wanted.

"Okay American. Are you ready?"

The clash within the satanic seal continued. Neither refused to give an inch. Ivana decided to resort to her Russian Commando Style Martial Arts. She countered a punch, took the enemy EVA's head and smashed it into the wall of the seal.

The enemy EVA went down, but was far from out. It attacked again. The enemy pilot decided to use martial arts too. But he only knew simple basic karate. But each hit felt like a train hitting her. She decided to just play defense. Ivana knew that even with the power of the Seal of Diablos, a human being still had its limits.

To make her plan work even further, she decided to taunt the American. "Is that the best you could do? Wait till all of America finds out you were beaten by a kid."

Ivana's plan worked. The enemy attacks were still powerful, but Ivana could dodge them with ease as rage brought sloppiness. Ivana then struck back, sending the tired out enemy flying with another brutal hit from her Commando style attacks. Ivana drew her knife and went for the finishing blow. It was over.

Suddenly, the size of the Seal of Diablos shrunk. Shrunk until it just contained the enemy EVA. Ivana was outside the circle! She could hear the American's plea for help.

"NO MASTER! PLEASE SPARE ME! AHHHHHH!"

Next, the Seal opened up a portal to another dimension. A dimension that looked like a fiery inferno. Ivana could see the American's soul be shredded from its body by the Seal and get sucked into that dimensional rift. But as soon as it appeared, it had disappeared, along with the Seal.

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After the incident on the battlefield that night, everyone was still dumbfounded on the origins of the strange technique used by the enemy EVA pilot. Gendo Ikari decided that the best thing to do would be to see if there were any more scrolls like the Dead Sea Scrolls or anything else that would prophesize anything similar to this.

After getting cleaned up and changed, the kids all went home, as it was rather late. All the kids wanted Misato to drive them home, but Asuka wanted to push Shinji home in a wheelchair.

As she pushed him home, he handed her a note.

WHAT'S WRONG?

"Huh? Oh nothing's wrong."

SEE IN EYES

"Oh all right," she said. "I'll tell you what's been bugging me." She began to tell her story. "Remember the time I was in the hospital after the Jet Alone Battle?"

Shinji nodded. So she continued. "I had this weird dream. And it felt more real like than dream like."

She then told him about Hikari-Asuka and Yami-Asuka. And how they showed her how bad of a person she was.

"And when I saw that you still cared despite how horrible I was," she continued. "It made me want to cry."

BLACKED OUT AGAIN

"Yeah. After my second blackout, I was back in the dream world. This time, I wanted to kill my dark side. And yes, I found her. She accepted my challenge."

THEN WHAT HAPPENED?

"Right as we started to fight, she started chanting something I couldn't understand. Then that circle of fire appeared, with the star and all. And Yami-Asuka looked worse then she already did. It was tough, but I killed her."

HAPPY FOR YOU

"Thank you. Now I've done enough rambling on this subject. Let's get going home." If Misato happened to stop by a bar, we'll still be the first ones home."

Unfortunately, Misato still had a sense of responsibility when it came to driving kids home. Shinji and Asuka were the last ones home. Zack decided to bug them again.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU TWO? MAKING OUT IN THE PARK?"

Everyone paused for a moment while Zack got his head handed to him by Asuka.

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By the next day, Shinji was feeling much better. So much better he thought he could make breakfast for everyone. But when Asuka caught him, he was marched off back to bed, and she finished the cooking.

The rest of the week carried on like normal. Shinji had finally been able to talk and walk on his own again. And he had Asuka holding his hand the entire way too. So recovery went smoothly, unless Asuka thought someone was going to get in her way.

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NERV HQ

Ritsuko was frustrated. The MAGI were unable to come up with an answer for what happened on the battlefield. Hopefully the NERV archaeology team could find some ruins like how the Dead Sea Scrolls were found to try and explain what's going to happen next.

'The Seal of Diablos,' pondered Ritsuko. 'It sounds evil. It's as if a twisted cult is going to try and rise up to wipe out NERV using some sort of black magic.' She continued her research.

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That secret meeting room I still can't find!

SEELE wasn't mad at all that their plan failed for some reason.

SEELE 03: This however, was to be expected.

SEELE 05: Yes. He was just some stupid human who could drive a robot and knew the words.

SEELE 11: But who will the next pilot be to challenge NERV?

SEELE 01: We are currently working on it. Our infiltrator is currently acquiring our pilot as we speak.

SEELE 04: The Seal of Diablos specializes in awakening the darkness in a human's soul.

SEELE 09: And if it worked that well with a mere human, imagine the effect it will have on one with Angel DNA!

All SEELE computers laugh.

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NERV HQ

After three more hours of trying to decipher the mysterious seal, Ritsuko gave up. She then decided to follow the usual EVA checkup procedures. Unit 00 was a little banged up but okay as soon as repairs were complete. Unit 01 was back in top form after the nuclear scare. And then she checked Unit 02. But what she saw shocked her.

"What the hell!" She hit the alarm and called Commander Ikari.

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Misato's apartment

"WHAT? Unit 02's dummy plug has just disappeared? How is that possible?" A pause. "Okay. Don't worry, she's right here." Another pause. " I'll be sure to."

Of course, Misato was one of the last to know that the dummy plug was taken from Unit 02. She remembered how the dummy plug was once used in Unit 01. And how that was removed so Rei could be replaced. Dummy plugs were never put in Units 03, 04, and 05.

Asuka was definitely shocked when she learned about the dummy plug. But on the contrary, she seemed happy that the dummy plug was no longer in Unit 02.

On another note, Misato wanted to take the kids on a vacation at the start of July. It was almost the end of June. She decided to spend some spare time looking for a location to go. She also pondered if Commander Ikari would even let the kids go on vacation.

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NERV HQ - Commander Ikari's Office

"Gendo, the Section-2 agents have doubled their watch over the First Child," reported Fuyutski.

"Good. With the current situation, we cannot afford to let her out of our sight. When the next attack comes, it will be the toughest battle yet."

Fuyutski spoke up again. "Do you think SEELE will use the same tactic they did last time?"

Gendo replied. "Without a doubt. But this time, it won't be a human. It'll be a Fallen Angel who will conjure the Seal of Diablos."

A/N: Well, a little short and possibly a bit rushed, but cut me some slack. I've been feeling sick for a week now, and my mind is short on ideas. But I've got a fantastic battle coming your way next chapter. It'll be out by sometime next week I hope. Well, until 17, be cool!


	17. Rei vs Rei

A/N: Well, I gotta say, this fanfic has come a long way. Over 5,000 hits! That's a milestone for me! And over 50,000 words too! I'm gonna take a moment to thank some of my reviewers.

destinyfaith - As long as I have loyal readers/reviewers like you, I'll continue to keep chugging along till the end.

Incognito Girl - Thanks for all your reviews too. It was you who told me how to develop my chapters.

nick2951 - Hey. Thanks for the Gendo/Shinji confrontation idea. When it happened, I had the idea floating in my mind, just wasn't sure how to put it on paper/screen.

GeminiDreams - Thanks for your reviews too! When are you gonna update yours soon?

And to everyone else who reviewed, thanks a dozen and a dozen more! Till review #100! Now on with the story!

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Shinji was troubled by what he had heard. If the dummy plug was stolen by a SEELE infiltrator, that would mean there's another Rei somewhere out there. So that meant an extra set of eyes would have to be kept on NERV's Rei, so SEELE couldn't make a quick switch with a Rei that was ordered to kill everything.

His father put NERV on First Stage Alert and had the kids taken into protective custody. He understood that his father was doing this so that they would be safe. They were kept in a secure part of the base, and guards were bringing in their meals, which they got three of a day.

Zack and Ivana were seen as suspects at first, but were cleared when they found out that Ivana was not seen as a traitor and that Zack had no damn idea what a dummy plug was.

Asuka was not big at all on the living arrangements, as all six children were sleeping in the same room. But it would be better than living all alone until the other Rei could be found.

Rei was taking this as well as she took everything else. With a plain face.

Ivana understood the circumstances. She knew what it was like to have doubles of your fellow operatives around.

Toji was worried. But he vowed not to let the circumstances get the better of himself.

Zack was hating every second of this. He said he was SO close to cracking the parental code. He said he was going to solve it the night the kids just happened to be taken into custody.

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NERV HQ - Gendo Ikari's office

Gendo Ikari looked at the information in front of him. The SEELE infiltrator had been found and captured. After a ruthless interrogation, they got the confirmation that SEELE was behind all of this. The kids were at NERV if necessary because he knew an attack would be imminent as soon as possible knowing those stupid old men. And Chairman Keel was lucky he slipped out of Gendo's grasp before Gendo found out he was part of SEELE.

Gendo also knew that SEELE would be excited about their latest acquisition and wouldn't hesitate to use it.

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NERV HQ - Cafeteria

Misato wasn't taking this very well. NERV had all reason to be on edge. They had been infiltrated, one of their devices was stolen, and they knew that device would be used against them. She decided to talk with Kaji about it in the NERV cafeteria.

"Great. Why did we even have to use these dummy plugs in the first place? Isn't one Rei enough," she said aloud.

"Well look at the bright side," said Kaji trying to comfort her. "At least the dummy plugs weren't of Asuka. Then we'd all have trouble on our hands."

"Yeah you're right. I suppose one of every person is enough."

Kaji spoke up again. "You know what's going to happen don't you?"

Misato bowed her head down. "Yeah. This won't be very good on Shinji. Rei is pretty important to him. Even if it's another clone of Rei, Shinji isn't very big on having to kill another human being."

"Yup," said Kaji. "If Shinji can't fight, then the commander will let him sit out if necessary."

"Really?"

"The commander's a changed man somewhat since the dunk tank incident."

As the two continued to converse, the alarm rang off. They knew exactly what was coming and went to Central Dogma.

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NERV HQ - Launching Bay

The kids were suited up and ready to go. Shinji felt worried. Even if the enemy was a Rei clone out to destroy them, he wasn't sure he could kill the clone. As he sat in the entry plug of Unit 01, the com suddenly came on. It was his father!

"Shinji, how do you feel?"

"F-Fine I guess," replied Shinji.

"I know you are very hesitant to fight the Rei clone. But you understand that the fate of the world is at stake."

Shinji replied again. "Yes I know. But I just can't knowingly kill another human being."

"Shinji, you must understand that your enemy will not only kill you, should you refuse to fight, but everyone else you love will be destroyed as well."

"I understand father. But I want to avoid it if possible. Can I be on backup then?"

Gendo was silent for a moment. "Very well." Then he went on the general com. Launch Units 00 and 05. Units 02 and 03 will serve as backups, and Units 01 and 04 as secondary backups."

Units 00 and 05 launched into Tokyo-3.

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After Units 00 and 05 launched into battle, Zack popped a question to Rei.

"Say Rei, do you feel okay fighting this battle? You know who we are fighting right?"

Rei replied. "I am fine. We are fighting another clone of myself. However, unlike my other copies, this one has chosen to destroy all that we stand for. I will not allow that. I wish to protect my… friends."

Zack was surprised at Rei's statement. "Well if you are okay with it, then so am I! And even better, when we beat this one, you will be the sole survivor. You will be individual for the first time."

"Yes. I would like that."

Their conversation was cut short when they saw the enemy. It was an EVA all right. But something was odd about it.

"What the fuck? It looks like your Unit 00 except it's all black!"

Gendo came on the com. "Yes. That's your target. Destroy it before it reaches the city. The enemy could possibly wish to get into the city and self-destruct therefore destroying the city. Your cables are long enough to go 10 kilometres outside the city. Now go."

"Roger," the two said in unison moving outside the city. They then came into contact with the enemy EVA.

The com came on. On the other side, was a Rei. However, her plugsuit was black, and anyone could sense something wasn't right about the pilot.

The evil Rei spoke up. "So you're the Rei Ayanami who works for NERV!"

Rei replied. "Yes."

"_Holy shit_!" said Zack. "It is another Rei!"

"Stay out of this asshole," the dark Rei said. "I have business to settle with my fake here."

"I am not your fake. You are as much fake as I am," replied Rei.

"Why do you think I work for SEELE?" asked the dark one. "They gave me a soul. And the power I need to destroy anyone who wishes to stop me."

"I will not let you destroy those I wish to protect," said Rei.

"Really? How noble," the dark Rei said in a mocking voice.

Now Zack was becoming furious. "Okay you stupid bitch, you're even worse than Asuka. Asuka may be a bitch, but she wouldn't sell her soul just to get more power. You are insane."

"Humph! I've had enough of your talk! Time to get down to business."

The darker side of Rei began chanting the same words used by the enemy last time. Once she had finished chanting the words, the Seal of Diablos was cast. As the circle spread, Zack was forced outside of the circle so only Rei and her evil clone were to do battle.

Rei watched as her evil clone underwent a transformation. The mark of the Diablos appeared on her forehead, and on the EVA's forehead as well. She then watched as the power of the Diablos came into contact with the Angel DNA. It made the EVA go out of control, then suddenly, it grew spectral wings! Unlike Unit 01 however, they were as black as the EVA she was about to fight.

"Ahhh, do you like it? This power feels good! So this is what happens when an Angel becomes infused with the power of Diablos!"

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NERV HQ - Battle Station

"The enemy's power and abilities have increased substantially!" reported Shigeru.

"Dammit! Are they always gonna use that stupid seal? Don't they know they're putting themselves in danger as well?" asked Misato.

"It must the desire for power that makes them ignore the risks that come with using that power," said Ritsuko. "What did they do to that Rei clone anyway? This isn't like her at all, soul or no soul."

Misato spoke again. "But from here it looks obvious that our Rei is no match for their Rei."

Suddenly, Shinji spoke over the com. "Hey Misato, I think you should have a little more faith in Rei than what you're giving her."

"Yeah, you're right Shinji."

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Battlefield

"I'm sure you know of the terms for a Diablos Battle," the dark Rei said. "If you win, which you will not, you're free to go. Hold on to the belief that you will. It'll make it that much better when I tear you to pieces. And when you lose, you will be sucked into hell, body and soul!"

"I will not lose," replied Rei.

"Yes! That's it! Hold on to that belief till the end! That's what I want! Let's do this!"

The two Unit 00s charged into each other. They both connected perfectly with a shoulder charge, but the dark Rei's power was much greater and Rei was sent flying into the wall of the Seal.

Rei was hurt, but she managed to get back up. She assumed a combat stance and was ready to attack again. This time, when the two came to attack, Rei sidestepped, imitating one of Zack's combat moves and slammed multiple attacks into the dark one's back before kicking her into the Seal's border.

'Wow,' thought Zack. 'So Rei was doing more than just watching Ivana and myself fight. She was watching our moves so she can copy them! Perhaps she does have a chance at winning this after all!'

But to his disappointment, the dark Rei got up. And she appeared to be completely unharmed. A sickening smile appeared on her face.

"Good. Better a good fight than just a mere slaughter."

The evil EVA attacked Rei again. Rei followed its movements, blocking the many punches and kicks that came her way. She would also throw in counter attacks when she could to.

However, the dark Rei's hits were like being hit by a rhino head on. The attacks were hurting, but Rei did not want her darker clone to harm those who had accepted her for who she is and was.

Another problem was that the Seal of Diablos was not only making the user more powerful, it made the user faster as well. Rei eventually could not keep up and was hit hard. Unit 00 went down.

"Well, well," the dark Rei said. You've put up quite a fight. But the Seal hasn't closed in around you, so I know you can still fight. GET UP! GET UP SO I CAN KNOCK YOU BACK DOWN!"

Rei struggled. She was easily in a lot of pain. But slowly and surely she managed to bring herself back to her feet.

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NERV HQ - Battle Station

"Rei is in a lot of pain," said Maya. "She can't keep this up much longer."

"Cut her sync ratio down to 55," ordered Fuyutski. "That will blot out some of the pain."

Misato opened up a link to Rei. "Rei can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"We're cutting your sync ratio down to 55. Does that feel better?"

"Yes."

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Rei felt her sync levels being cut down to reduce the amount of pain she was feeling. She was still hurting, but she felt she had to fight for those who she cared for.

Rei attacked her more powerful counterpart again. This time, she decided to imitate Ivana's Russian arts. Once more, this caught the darker one off guard. And she wasn't over the mood about getting her head smashed into the wall of the Seal either.

"Grrrrr. Damn you bitch! Why do you persist?" The dark Rei this time used her EVA's black spectral wings to take flight. She then decided to kick Unit 00 in the head from the air. Rei tried her best to block the kicks, but her defense eventually crumbled and she would suffer from the onslaught of kicks to the head. After about 15 kicks, Unit 00 collapsed.

Even Asuka had difficulty watching what she was seeing. Sure she never got along with Rei, but she didn't deserve to suffer like this. No one could seem to watch what was happening.

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NERV HQ - Battle Station

"Rei has suffered severe head trauma. It looks like a concussion!" reported Maya. "She can't keep fighting like this! She's going to lose!"

"Oh no!" shouted Misato. "If Rei loses, she'll be dragged into hell!"

"The Seal is closing in on her!" reported Makoto.

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Rei struggled to open her eyes. She saw that the Seal was closing in on her. That meant she had lost the battle. Suddenly, her com opened up.

"Ayanami! You can't give up!" It was Shinji!

"Ikari?"

Now Asuka came on. "Listen here Wondergirl! You're gonna let that psycho win? You can do better than that! You're not a Zero! More like a One or a Two!"

"Sohryu?"

Toji's turn. "Yeah Ayanami! You're part of the team! It wouldn't be the same without you!"

"Suzahara?"

Ivana spoke up next. "Come on comrade. You may be down, but you are far from out."

"Kharlamov?"

Zack spoke next. "Yeah. It's time for you to get up and give that bitch the bitch-slapping she deserves!"

"Harper?"

"That's right Rei," said Shinji again. "We all believe in you! You have to keep fighting! Go get her!"

Rei came to a sudden realization.

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It appeared to the dark Rei that she had won. After the kicking onslaught, Unit 00 had gone down. She planned on taking out Unit 05 next also using the Seal of Diablos. But for the moment, she decided to revel on her victory over her clone.

"How pathetic," she said with a smile. "I thought a Rei Ayanami from NERV would be able to fight better than this. Oh well. I'll just have to settle for the Seal dragging you to hell sooner than I hoped." She watched as the Seal shrank to enclose her better part of herself.

But all of a sudden, as the Seal was closing in, it shot back out! And it encircled them both once again!

"But what! How is this possible?"

Unit 00 stood up once more.

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NERV HQ - Battle Station

"Unit 00 is back up!" reported Maya. "And she's hit a 96 sync!"

"What?" shouted Ritsuko. "She's got a damn concussion! How can she continue to fight?"

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Zack was shocked at the sight he saw before him. Unit 00 got back up, and attacked the black EVA. It was caught completely off guard by Unit 00's attack. It grabbed the dark Rei's EVA by the throat and forced it down. Then Unit 00 drew its progressive knife and began cutting up the dark EVA.

No one knew what suddenly came over Rei. And supposedly, the dark Rei was more powerful. After a few slashes of the knife, the dark Rei had no more use of her arms. And then, her legs.

"NNNOOOOOO! HOW CAN THIS BE? I AM SUPERIOR!" the dark Rei was shouting.

Unit 00 then chipped open the plates that covered the core. In one stab, the core was ruptured, ending the battle.

The others watched as the Seal encircled the dark EVA, it took what it wanted, the dark Rei's body and soul, and then disappeared.

Unit 00 then just collapsed. Misato came on the com. "Zack! Bring Unit 00 back here now!"

"Yes ma'am!"

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It turned out that Rei had suffered some pretty bad injuries out there on the battlefield. It would be at least two weeks before she would be able to leave the hospital. The good news however, was that her concussion was very minor.

Shinji decided to go visit Rei in the hospital. Rei was somewhat surprised to see him.

"Ikari?"

"Hey Ayanami. I'm glad you're okay. You gave us all quite a scare yesterday."

"I did what I had to."

"I know," Shinji said. "I just want you to remember you are not alone okay? You have something to fight for. Us. We're all glad that you didn't give up fighting. And I know you would encourage us the same way we all did for you."

"That's right Wondergirl!" Asuka suddenly came into the room. "If we could, we would have all teamed up and clobbered Evilgirl!"

"You're something else Ayanami." Now Zack came into the room. "You've got more guts than most of us combined."

"Yeah Ayanami. You're braver than most of the jocks at school. Myself included," said Toji also walking in.

"You're a valuable comrade," said Ivana.

"And most of all, you're part of our family," said Misato who had also come in to the room.

Rei took a minute to let this all sink in. "My family. Thank you," she replied with a smile on her face. "We are a family."

A/N: And there you have the Rei vs. Rei battle. And next chapter is the introduction of a new character! Until then, be cool!


	18. In the Pink

A/N: Well, it's been a while since I got reviews for this fanfic. 4 days! OMG! I'm gonna go crazy! But hey, did no good reviews stop Colonel Sanders? Nope! And that's why I'll keep going! Meh, I know you people have busy lives and can't spend all your time focusing on me! Don't worry; when you come back here from doing whatever you do, there'll be nice chapters waiting for you. Now here's the introduction of the latest character! On with the story!

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Misato got a phone call from the NERV hospital. It was confirmation that Rei had made a full recovery from her concussion that she had suffered at the hands of her evil clone. That fact that she was the last surviving Rei gave her a new sense of identity. It really helped her recovery. At least that's what Ritsuko was saying.

After finishing her third beer, she decided to see what the kids were doing. Shinji and Asuka were watching a comedy show on TV. It was some silly show where young mothers who have slept with a few too many people were on the show trying to find out whom their baby's father was. Misato even thought it was funny to watch the alleged father's face of joy and the mother's shock when it was found out he was not the baby's father.

She looked outside. Ivana was outside practicing her martial arts. To her surprise, Pen-Pen was also outside AND practicing alongside her. 'What a penguin,' she thought. 'If we introduced him back to the wild, I would feel sorry for the other penguins.'

She then checked to see what Zack was doing. To her surprise, Zack was reading a very large book. After watching him for five minutes, she noticed Zack was making movements to turn a page, but he never turned the pages of the large book. So she decided to investigate.

"What are you reading Zack?" asked Misato curiously.

Zack seemed to be in a dire situation. The last thing he wanted was Misato to catch him looking at the content he was looking at that he had hidden within the large book. His brain collectively thought up ways to throw off Misato for even five seconds. An idea quickly came.

"Hey look! It's Kaji!"

"What? Where?" Misato suddenly ran out the door to look for the man she loved… sometimes. However, he was gone. When she came back, she noticed that Shinji, Zack, and Asuka were laughing at whatever was on TV. Luckily for Zack, thinking about Kaji had made Misato forget what she was doing in the first place. Zack was safe for the moment, with the secret magazine tucked underneath his shirt. He made a mental note to bury it somewhere deep in the garbage with the world never knowing what was hidden within its pages.

Later that day, Rei had come home from the hospital. Now that Misato was feeling better, she decided to call a family meeting.

"So why are calling a meeting?" asked Shinji.

"This had better be important!" said a frustrated Asuka. "I'm missing my favourite show just for this stupid meeting!"

"Just sit tight and I'll tell you all," replied Misato. The kids quickly shut up and listened. "You know, since the Angels appeared, our lives have been made a living hell by them. And 3rd Impact hasn't been help either. To top it off, terrorists are also trying to kill us too."

"So what are you suggesting?" asked Zack.

"I'm proposing that we should take a vacation!" declared Misato. "We all need some time to just get away from all of this shit for a little while."

"Really?" asked Shinji. "Could we really do that?"

"No guarantees though," said Misato. "But I will ask the commander for permission. If he's okay with it, we'll definitely do it!"

This got all the kids jumping for joy. Even Rei was somewhat happy about getting away from all the troubles EVA gave them and just be people trying to enjoy life for a short while. But would Commander Ikari allow it?

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NERV HQ - Commander Ikari's Office

Gendo looked over the information given to him. He was reading about Rei's medical reports. He was glad that SEELE's latest attempt to get rid of NERV using Unit 02's dummy plug had failed again. And he knew there was no way they could try the type of invasion they did on the day of 3rd Impact.

He took some time to remember the conversation he had with his son. He hated himself for being such an asshole to his son, who chose to pilot EVA just to earn his respect. Now that Gendo had seen the error of his ways, he hoped he could find any way possible to make up for it. He made some notes to have extra money put aside to cover any post-secondary education that Shinji and his friends may require. If he could find any other way to make up for what he did, he would do it. Any way…

Suddenly, Misato came into his office.

"What do you want Major?"

Misato saluted her superior. "Ah Commander. I have a special request of you."

"Go on."

"I've been talking with the kids today. They have been through a lot. Angels, 3rd Impact, terrorists, twisted cults, and near-death experiences. They may not show it, but I can sense that their morale is slowly shaking."

Gendo wanted Misato to get to the point. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Misato gave her proposal. "I hereby request your permission that I take the children outside of Japan somewhere for a vacation. I believe a vacation away from all of this would be a good boost for their morale."

Gendo listened and said nothing for a while. After about two minutes of dead silence, Misato figured that the commander was thinking it over. Misato had a good belief that this would work, as Ritsuko said that Gendo had changed a lot since the dunk tank incident. He was still the calm and cool commander, but he seemed a lot more reasonable that he used to.

After another minute, Misato decided to break the silence. "Commander?"

"Australia."

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"Really? He's gonna let us go?" Asuka was all excited.

"Yup," said Misato with a wink. "Myself, you kids, Pen-Pen, and Toji all get to take a two-week vacation with all expenses paid for to Sydney, Australia. Commander Ikari's gonna let us go!"

"WOOHOO!" Zack was excited. "Time to leave the land of the noodles and go Down Under!"

"The body needs to be relaxed to be able to function at full strength. I believe this vacation will be good for all of us," said Ivana.

In about two hours, the kids had packed everything they needed with Asuka packing by far the most stuff. Zack had the largest thing packed which was a surfboard, which he pulled from a storage room in NERV.

They brought all of their briefcases to a NERV airplane. Yes, they would be flying first class all the way there. Toji was there waiting for them.

"Hey guys! What took so long!" he asked when they got there.

"Pilots Harper, Ikari, and Sohryu wanted to stop at a store and buy sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun," said Rei in a monotone voice.

"Well in any case, let's get going. Onto the plane!" shouted Misato.  
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Commander Ikari's Office

"Are you sure letting them go to Australia was the right thing to do?" asked Vice-Commander Fuyutski.

"I saw no problem. If in the event of an emergency, we can have the children back here in one hour. On top of that, we have a NERV base in Australia. This will be a good opportunity as well for them to meet the Seventh Child."

"Are we acquiring the Seventh Child?"

Gendo folded his hands the way he always did. "Yes. And Unit 06 as well."

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Not long after the kids got onto the plane and got buckled up, the plane took off. Once it had, Misato handed out brochures.

"Here's some brochures," said Misato. Australia is dominantly English, so Zack and Ivana, you will have to be our interpreters. It's taking me a little longer than I thought to learn English. So wherever you go, make sure you are either with Zack or Ivana, as they understand the language better than any of you can."

Shinji, Toji, and Rei took it fine, but Asuka did not like having to depend on Zack or Ivana for guidance. "Why do we have to have one of them be with us? I can handle just fine on my own!"

"_Oh really Asuka_?" asked Zack in English.

"What the hell did you just say?" asked a confused Asuka.

"He said "Oh really Asuka" in English," said Ivana. "That alone shows how lost you will be should you get lost in Australia."

Ivana only got a loud "Humph!" from Asuka. Zack decided to try hitting on the female flight attendants with some actual success. Rei chose to read a book on how to learn English. Shinji listened to his SDAT. And Toji played a handheld video game. Misato used a laptop computer to keep trying to improve her English. She had gotten the idea to start learning English after not being able to talk to anyone in America unless they knew Japanese or German.

It would take about 3 hours to reach Sydney, as this was a pretty fast plane. When they were 15 minutes from landing, Misato had some final instructions for each of them. "Shinji, you are very famous around the world for saving mankind during 3rd Impact. Try not to attract much attention."

"Yes ma'am," said Shinji in a somewhat bored voice.

"Ivana, if possible, refrain from beating up anyone."

"I will try my best to avoid conflict," said Ivana.

"Asuka, remember to stick with either Zack or Ivana."

"Fine," the German said.

Toji, avoid conflicts with anyone. We don't want you getting hurt either." This resulted in laughs from everyone else.

"Hey shut up!"

"Zack, please don't sleep with any of the girls here. The last thing NERV needs is five different girls pregnant because of your behaviour around them."

Zack reacted with mock shock. "What? You actually think I would just get five random girls pregnant just like that?"

"YES!" shouted everyone else in unison.

"Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention," continued Misato. "We're landing at the NERV base here in Australia. Everyone at the base speaks Japanese and English, so communications here won't be a problem. On top of that, the Seventh Child is here too."

"Really?" asked Shinji. "What's this person like?"

"Not someone I found impressive in the lines of personality."

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As planned, they landed in the NERV base in Sydney. They got quite a reception from the NERV employees here. Mostly because Shinji was with them.

"Hey, that's Shinji!"

"Shinji! You rock man! You saved us!"

"Can I have your autograph?"

Shinji wasn't sure what to do. If Asuka didn't drag him away from the mob, he would have been swarmed. After getting away from the mob, they went deeper into the NERV with Zack guiding them as he read the signs to where the person in charge was. After a few minutes of walking, they found the Australian Commander's room.

They heard a booming voice from outside the door. "Come in." And so they entered. There was a man sitting behind a desk. This room was well lit, unlike Commander Ikari's room, which was usually very dark.

The man stood up. He was huge! "I'm Commander Rainer Von Croy," the man said. "As you have likely figured out, I'm the commander here. He looked at Shinji. "So you are the famous Shinji Ikari." He shook Shinji's hand. "Am I glad you saved our sorry asses during 3rd Impact." He faced everyone now. "Now, how was our greeting? Be honest."

Zack spoke up. "We got mobbed the minute we came in."

"WHAT?" Von Croy boomed. He went to his phone. "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? THAT'S NOT THE WAY TO TREAT GUESTS SHITHEADS! NOW GO RUN LAPS AROUND THE FACILITY!"

He hung up the phone. "I apologize."

"No problem," said Misato. His sudden yelling freaked everyone out. "By the way," Misato continued, "is the Seventh Child here?"

"Ah yes the Seventh Child is here," replied Von Croy. "Come on in."

A door behind him opened. A figure appeared in the doorway, and then walked into the room.

"So these are the EVA pilots huh mate?" said the figure. It had a girl's voice with a touch of attitude to it.

"Major Katsuragi and EVA pilots, I'd like you to meet the Seventh Child: Elly Simpson."

Everyone just stared at her for about 10 seconds when Asuka said: "Why are you wearing that in here?"

"I can wear whatever I want bitch," she replied. In the eyes of everyone, the males defintely, she was drop dead hot! She was slightly short than the other girls, being no more than five feet two inches and weighing no more than a hundred and ten pounds. She had sparkling blue eyes which gave off a sense of openess and joy. Her strawberry blonde hair matched her pink bikini which concealed an alarmingly large pair of breasts. "I think it goes great with my pink plugsuit and my pink EVA. But you couldn't see that because you're a crazy psychobitch!"

Asuka wasn't happy one bit about being insulted by a newcomer. "Easy now," said Von Croy. "No fighting between you two. Anyway, Elly was born and raised here. She's the pride and joy of Australia. A great kid, despite her faults."

"Why?" asked Zack. "What'd she do?"

"She was the one who stole the tank and took it for a joyride," said Von Croy with a frown.

"Oh yeah," said Zack. "I read about that. She's the one who tore through the downtown area!"

"Hey! That was an accident!" replied Elly. "Some pervert attacked me one day and I hid in the tank, and accidentally started it up!"

The rest of the kids laughed while the adults had a look of disgust. "Talk about Grand Theft Tank!" Zack had said.

"More like a freak accident gone freakier if I say so." Elly decided to get acquainted with them, starting with Rei. "Let's see, you are Rei Ayanami. First Child and designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 00."

"Yes," said Rei.

She looked at Asuka next. "You're the bitch known as Asuka Sohryu. Native of Germany Pilot of Unit 02. And you got beaten by 3 Angels in a row."

Asuka was sure mad now. "SHUT UP!"

"Heh. I can see why you're the Devil-Incarnate." This only got more growling sounds and muttered death threats. Next she went to Ivana. "Ah you are Ivana Kharlamov. A native of Russia. Fifth Child and pilot of Unit 04"

"Correct," replied Ivana. "I am glad we will be working together."

After Ivana, she faced Toji. "And your Toji Suzahara, star of the school basketball team at your high school AND going out with a girl named Hikari Horaki. Fourth Child and pilot of Unit 03."

Any talks about him and Hikari could usually make Toji blush pretty fast. "Hey we're not going out!"

She ignored Toji and looked at Zack. "And you are Zack Harper. Canadian. The Sixth Child and pilot of Unit 05."

"_Yup. Canadian and proud of it_," said Zack speaking in English.

"_Wow_!_ You speak English_! _That's so cool_!" said Elly with excitement in her voice. She could also speak English and Japanese.

She then looked at Shinji. "And last but definitely the best: Shinji Ikari. Savior of mankind. Third Child and the pilot of Unit 01."

"Uh yeah, that's me," said Shinji. Shinji wasn't that big on being seen as a hero for aborting 3rd Impact.

Elly continued. "And according to my reports, your current squeeze is Asuka Sohryu. But honestly, if you get tired of her, you KNOW where to find me."

Now Asuka was really mad. "IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU, KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY SHINJI YOU SKANK!"

"My, my. Aren't we the tempered one?"

This may have gone on a bit longer if Misato didn't get them all out of the room. "Okay, let's go to our hotel rooms."

Elly made one more announcement. "Yup. I got everyone registered into the rooms. You'll get your keys at the front desk. Now if you'll be on your way, I gotta hit the beach for a late-night swim. Laters!" She blew a kiss to Shinji and took off. And Asuka looked like she blew up.

And off they went. Shinji knew how to cool down Asuka quickly. By paying lots of attention to her! And it worked, Asuka was brought back down to earth and was busy talking about herself and how she was probably much better than Elly at piloting EVA anyway.

After walking along a path and with careful navigation by Zack, they arrived at their hotel. It was huge. Shinji asked Ivana what the hotel was called. Ivana told him it was called "The Starlight Paradise" It was 35 floors high! The kids, penguin, and Major went inside. It was luxurious! Commander Ikari had reserved them a five star hotel!

The receptionist seemed to recognize them when they went inside. "Ah, you are Major Katsuragi, and these are the EVA pilots," said the receptionist in Japanese.

"Yes, that's us. Commander Gendo Ikari reserved rooms for us."

"Ah yes. And the Seventh Child had the generosity of choosing which rooms everyone would be best with. I have your names on the keys here. I'll call your names out and you'll get your key."

The first called was Toji Suzahara. He received his key. "Alright. They're on the top floor! Wahoo!" He took off for the elevator.

Next was Rei Ayanami. She received her key and left for the elevator. Ivana did the same. Zack also did the same, except he stopped to flirt with a pretty girl. He got slapped this time. He walked back to the group. "Okay. I deserved that one," he said before going to the elevator. Misato got hers after that, and left with Pen-Pen.

"And here's the last one," said the receptionist.

"What? Only one key left?" asked Asuka.

The receptionist had a smile on his face. "Yes but it's the best room. Picked out specifically by Elly Simpson. It's for Shinji and Asuka Ikari."

Shinji winced. He knew Asuka wasn't ready to be called Asuka Ikari just yet. Asuka took the key and said "Come on Shinji. We need to set up the ground rules!" And off they went to the 35th floor!

The room the two were given was huge! There was a kitchen, with an entire kitchen set. There was a stove with pots and pans, and even a refrigerator. In the bathroom, there was a shower, AND a large hot tub. There were dressers too to put Shinji clothes and Asuka's many clothes in. There was a TV and to top it all off, a king sized bed.

The two took some time to unpack before Asuka went into the bathroom to change into her nightclothes. When she came back, she already found Shinji sleeping.

"Dork," she said teasingly even though she knew he couldn't hear her. "I was going to share the bed anyway." She crawled into bed and snuggled up. She rested her head on his chest so she could hear his heart beating slowly as he slept.

"Goodnight Shinji," she whispered. She kissed him once, and went to sleep.

A/N: And there you have it! Meet Elly Simpson everyone! Please review if you get the chance! Until 19, be cool!


	19. Surfing, Jetskiing, and Ice Cream

Okay! The kids are now in the world Down Under also known as Australia. And now they've been introduced to the Seventh Child, Elly Simpson. And oh boy, does Asuka hate her! On another note, who said the EVAs had to be scary? As long as it's capable of getting the job done, that's all the matters! And one more thing, I'm not introducing any more EVA pilots!Will there be another terrorist attack? Will there be any shark attacks? Will Toji get beaten up by a kangaroo? Who knows! Now on with the story!

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It was a beautiful morning for Asuka. She had finally had a dream where she didn't see her mother hanging herself. She dreamt about her and Shinji killing an Angel and being seen as heroes for all of humanity. Being with Shinji pretty much buried the memory back into her mind.

The German finally woke up. She noticed Shinji wasn't sleeping next to her. So she figured he was up early and wanted to get an early start on the day. She decided to take a shower. Since Shinji wasn't around, she could disrobe without him seeing her.

Once she disrobed, she went into the bathroom. She wasn't fully awake yet, so she wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around her. But then, she would be shocked by what she saw next.

Shinji had beaten her to the shower. It was one of those showers with the windows and door so showering was really confined.

Asuka had just frozen when she saw him. And gasped! Unfortunately, Shinji had heard her gasp over the shower. He turned in the direction of the gasp. The following happened:

"GWAHHHH!" screamed Shinji desperately trying to cover himself in the shower.

"Hey stop looking at me you pervert!" shouted Asuka who used her towel to cover herself.

"ME? You're the one who came in here naked while I was already in here! I think you're the perverted one!"

"WHAT? I OUGHTA!"

"Hey chill out!" said Shinji. "I was kidding. But I guess we can say we're equally perverted!"

"Hey! I don't want to be seen as a pervert!"

Well, things got sorted out quickly. After they both finished showering (NOT at the same time!), they got dressed (NOT at the same time!), and went downstairs to meet the others in the lobby. While in the elevator, they had another chance to talk.

"Hey Shinji, not a word about what happened in the bathroom, okay?"

"Definitely," said Shinji. "Zack and Toji wouldn't let me hear the end of it."

"Hey we got time," said Asuka all of a sudden after passing the 30th floor. "Wanna have some elevator styled fun?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked a confused Shinji. Suddenly, he realized what Asuka meant. "H-H-Here?"

"You bet. Get ready 'cuz here I come!"

Asuka had Shinji in one of the corners of the elevator as it passed the 25th floor. Shinji decided now was NOT the time to play hard-to-get.

Asuka wrapped her arms around Shinji's neck and kissed him. Unlike the others, the emotional force behind this one was comparable to a punch of an EVA. Asuka then proceeded to deepen the kiss by sticking her tongue deep in his mouth and let it dance with Shinji's tongue.

Shinji was almost overwhelmed by the force of Asuka's French kiss. But he managed to return her feelings with some of his own as he wrapped his arms around her and caressed her back.

They were so lost in their kiss that they failed to notice that their elevator had finally hit the bottom floor. They also failed to realize that they had an audience of the other kids waiting for them at the bottom. When they broke off their kiss, they heard cheering and clapping. This made Shinji blush with embarrassment and Asuka flush with rage.

"YOU WERE WATCHING US? YOU PERVERTS!" shouted Asuka.

"SCATTER!" shouted Zack as everyone began to run.

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Once they finally met outside the hotel's restaurant, they proceeded inside, with Zack making all the requests on behalf of the group, since he was the English speaker. The waiter then proceeded to lead them to their table. The kids took their seats. It was in a half-circle booth, so the seats were extra comfortable. When the menus came out, Zack and Ivana quickly took charge translating whatever was on the menu, as the other kids couldn't read it.

"What is this?" asked Asuka. "Shiest! I can't read this!"

"Oh that's French toast with your choice of eggs or sausages mate!" Asuka looked up. It was Elly! This didn't dampen Asuka's mood one bit.

"And what exactly are you doing here?" she bluntly asked Elly.

"Oh I'm just gonna sit in with you blokes. I am the Seventh Child after all. I gotta get to know you all better."

And with the help of Zack, Elly, and Ivana, everything was successfully translated and everyone got something to eat. The bill was already prepaid by NERV, so no one had to foot the bill.

After they left the restaurant, it was time to take the rest of the day on Sydney and have some fun. They would split into 3 groups with Zack, Ivana, and Elly acting as group leaders. Zack, Asuka, and Shinji decided they would go to the beach. Elly, Rei, and Toji would ride jet-skis on the Great Barrier Reef. That left Ivana, Misato and Pen-Pen to check out the downtown part of Sydney.

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Beach

"Woohoo!" Zack was excited about the beach. This was why he brought his surfboard. "This is the way to pick up chicks! Watch and learn Shinji!" He took his Canadian decorated surfboard and hit the ocean, then began paddling out for the waves.

While he was paddling out. Shinji sat down in a beach chair that he rented. Asuka would be coming shortly.

As Shinji watched Zack surf, (he was actually really good) he heard a voice calling him. It was Asuka!

"Hey Shinji! Do you like my bathing suit? Asuka was wearing a red two-piece bathing suit!"

"Uh yeah. I love it," he replied, desperately trying to stay above the pervert line that Asuka drew. "I think it looks great on you!"

"Why thank you Shinji! I think your taste in clothes is finally coming alive!"

Asuka and Shinji were sitting in beach chairs just watching the waves coming in and at the same time watch the surfers wipe out when they tried to hotdog for the girls in skimpy bathing suits.

They just watched Zack surf for a couple of minutes. He was actually really good on the board. So good, that he had some girls on the edge of the beach cheering him on.

"What a showoff," muttered Asuka. "I won't be surprised if he gets TEN girls pregnant before this vacation is over."

"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised," said Shinji. "He taught me a lot about girls, but at least I know what counts."

"And what would that be?" asked a curious Asuka.

"What matters is what's in your heart, at least that's what I believe."

Asuka was impressed. "Well I guess Casanova has his good points after all. Oh Shinji, be a dear and get us a lemonade. I believe it's _lemonade_ in English."

"Uh, okay I'll try," said Shinji. 'I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away,' he thought. 'I can do this!' He proceeded up to the counter where there was a lady at the stand serving drinks. He assumed the money he had converted from Japan was good enough. It was a good thing that Japan and Australia used the same Arabic numerals otherwise Shinji would have been totally lost.

Finally, Shinji got up to the counter. "_May I help you_?" the lady said. Shinji had no idea what she said, but he assumed she wanted to help him.

"Uhh, _lemon…ade_?" said Shinji. And he held up two fingers to show he wanted two.

Luckily, the lady at the cash had a good assumption that Shinji wasn't from this country and assumed he wanted two lemonades.

Shinji sheepishly paid what was required and took the two bottled drinks back to Asuka. She was laughing when he got back.

"Oh mein gott, you should have seen the look on your face!" she said. "But hey thanks."

Shinji had gotten back just in time to see Zack get smacked by the waves and get knocked off his surfboard. This made the two children laugh.

However, Zack managed to turn it around by telling the girls that he did that just for them, because everyone loves a wipeout.

"What an idiot," said Asuka.

Shinji agreed. "Yeah."

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NERV HQ in Australia

"Oh boy this is going to be so fun!" said Toji. Toji, Elly, and Rei were getting ready to try out the Sea-Doos that NERV owned. Elly was going to see if they could use the watercraft. After a minute, she came back with some sort of clothing.

"These are wetsuits," she said. "They'll keep you warm. Toji, you can go change in that room. Rei and I will change I this room. Oh and Toji, if you want to peek, there's a hole in the wall over here!"

This brought a blush to Toji's face and he just ran off to the men's changeroom to change. After about two minutes, he came back out. His wetsuit was black, just like his EVA. That gave him a chill. He still didn't like piloting EVA. Rei came out in a sky blue wetsuit. And Elly's wetsuit was well… pink.

"Aww you didn't peek," she said with mock disappointment. "Just kidding. Even if you wanted to, there was no hole in the wall anyway. And if Commander Von Croy heard about it, you'd be running laps around the facility mate."

"Laps? For that?"

"Yeah," replied the Australian. "The commander here doesn't like firing people. So he makes them run laps instead when the blokes choose to be incompetent. But anyway, less rambling, let's go!

They walked down to the NERV dock, where the Sea-Doos were waiting. Elly explained the their Sea-Doo would match their wetsuit. After putting on life jackets, they got on their watercraft, and took off into the Great Barrier Reef!

Rei would drive her watercraft at a speed she thought was sufficient. Toji, would creep along the water, whereas Elly was driving at dangerous speeds.

'Man, Elly sure knows how to show off,' thought Toji. 'I can see why her and The Red-Headed Devil don't get along.'

'Pilot Simpson is… reckless,' thought Rei.

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Downtown Sydney

Misato was having a great time. It would be even better if she could read the signs. However, she had Ivana to read the signs for her.

"So Ivana. How are you liking Japan so far?" asked Misato. "I believe I've never asked you."

"Well Japan is much warmer than my motherland," said Ivana. "But at times I still miss mother Russia."

"I know. But you're doing your country proud by serving NERV and fighting to save the world."

This made Ivana smile. "That does bring a comforting thought."

As the pair proceeded downtown, Misato had an idea. "Hey Ivana, wanna see if there are any nice guys down here by any chance?"

Suddenly, a voice behind them interrupted them. "Would I be considered nice?"

The two women and penguin turned around. It was Kaji! "What the fuck are you doing down here? Are you stalking me or something?" shouted Misato.

"No, no," he replied. "I've been here about a week now. I've been down here for a while now, exploring what the world Down Under has to offer."

"If you've been down here for a week," said Ivana. "Then that means your English is very good."

"Wow," said a mockingly excited Kaji. "For being quick on the ball, I'll have to buy this nice girl a sundae." He looked at Misato who was not too pleased. "And by default, I'll have to buy you and Pen-Pen one as well."

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Beach

"C'mon Shinji, it isn't that hard! You can do it!" Zack somehow had convinced Shinji to try his hand at surfing. Shinji had managed to make it out there. But now he wasn't sure if he could keep his balance on the board.

"Zack! That was a cruel thing to do! You know better than I do that you just wanna see him wipe out!" said Asuka with frustration in her voice.

"Brilliant analysis!" said Zack. "C'mon Shinji! Ride that wave!"

Shinji makes it up, but he's too scared to turn and ride the waves. Instead he gets smacked by another wave and is thrown like a rag doll off the surfboard. In response, Zack and Asuka go in after Shinji.

"Shinji!" shouts Asuka.

"My surfboard!" shouts Zack.

Fifteen seconds later, Asuka drags Shinji out of the water and Zack recovered his surfboard. Zack comes out with a big bite mark in his shoulder though.

"And that'll teach that shark not to try and steal my surfboard! How's Shinji?" asked Zack.

"I think he's okay. Shinji?"

Shinji spits out some water and then spits out a fish. "What day is it today?" he asked.

"It's Monday if you should know," said Asuka. She then turns to Zack. "Zack you shithead! Why the hell did you tell him to surf? Serves you right having that shark bite you!"

"You got bit? I'm sorry Zack," says Shinji with a tone of shame in his voice.

"Don't worry about it Shinji. That shark was going to get you. But I got in its way. Oww that hurts like hell! Suckered the thing right in the nose! I'm gonna go get some first aid! Guess I had it coming. Be back in a bit!"

As he walks off to get some first aid, he tells some girls he survived a shark attack and pretty girls once more swarmed him again.

"Mein gott, why did we have to be stuck with Casanova?" asked Asuka into the air.

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Somewhere on the Great Barrier Reef

"Yahoo!" Elly was sure having a blast. Her reckless use of her Sea-Doo could only shock Toji. She had already cut off two large boats and created a wave, which sunk a windsurfer.

"Are you always this reckless?" asked Toji when the three decided to stop for a minute.

"Your use of a watercraft is likely to be seen as dangerous," said Rei.

Elly was genuinely shocked. "Dangerous? That's far from dangerous for me! C'mon! I know an awesome place we can go!"

So Toji and Rei followed Elly as she treaded along the coastline. They followed her to what appeared to be some sort of coastline resort.

So after tying up their Sea-Doos, Toji was curious as to where they were. "Where is this place?"

"Oh this is my favourite ice cream spot mate," said Elly. "You won't find any better ice cream anywhere else in the world!"

So Elly led the other two pilots up to the counter. The person at the stand seemed to recognize Elly.

"_Ah Elly_. _Good to see you again_. _Who are the blokes you brought with you_?"

"_Oh they're fellow pilots for NERV_," replied Elly. "_And as for ice cream_, _I'll have my usual_."

Through some translating, Elly got a pink bubblegum flavoured ice cream. Toji had chocolate caramel, and Rei had vanilla.

"When you try this ice cream, you'll believe it's the best," declared Elly. And she was right! Even Rei thought this ice cream was better than the ice cream they served in Japan!

'This is fun,' thought Rei. 'It feels good to have fun.'

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Secret Meeting Room (Still no leads yet on where it is)

SEELE was having another meeting

SEELE 03: What shall our next attack be?

SEELE 06: I have an excellent idea. Those kids are in Australia right now. We can send in terrorists from underwater. We can have them set powerful bombs off!

SEELE 02: Yes. That will trigger a massive tidal wave, which shall swallow up Sydney!

SEELE 04: NERV won't take the loss of a base very well! I hope they have insurance for tidal damages! And cope with the loss of the Children!

The four computers begin to laugh maniacally.

A/N: Meh, just another take-it-easy chapter. But I hope you will be ready for a battle in the next chapter! R&R people! Until 20, be cool!


	20. Jeroboam

Hi ya'll! I'm writing this chapter from a remote location. But I'm still here! Now on with Chapter 20!

Australia NERV Base

Misato was deeply agitated. It turned out there was a new terrorist threat, here in Australia. So this put her and the kids' vacation on hold until this threat was dealt with.

"This one is hiding deep beneath the ocean," said a technician. It's EVA shaped."

"So how will you combat something deep beneath the ocean?" asked Misato.

Commander Von Croy came into the room. "We can send Elly. Her Unit 06 was made with Type-D metal. She can go underwater. And if I'm not mistaken, Supreme Commander Ikari had the other EVAs brought here as well."

Misato was shocked. "Great! Then we can send down other EVAs as well."

"Negative," said another technician. "The other EVAs aren't made of Type-D metal."

"We can send Asuka in Unit 02 then," said Misato. "Unit 02 is modified to be able to use Type-D equipment. We just need to suit it up."

"And that's how it's going to work. Asuka and Elly will go into the ocean and stop this terrorist." Misato had just finished briefing Asuka and Elly and the others on what's going on.

"WHAT? Why do I have to team up with her of all people?" Asuka was NOT happy at all about having to team up with Elly.

Misato took Asuka aside and whispered into her ear. She decided the best way to get Asuka's cooperation was to inflate her ego. "Elly has never never been in a combat situation before. She'll need your guidance."

As planned, Asuka's confidence, and ego shot up. "Come on Elly! You're gonna learn how it's done!"

"Whatever mate," replied Elly.

"Oh and Pilot Ikari," Von Croy suddenly said. "I have special orders from Supreme Commander Ikari that you pose as the lone backup should anything go wrong."

"W-Why?" asked Shinji, who was shocked by the last detail.

"Well, I guess your old man has a lot of faith in you."

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"You look like a giant marshmallow with arms and legs!" said Elly. She was already in Unit 06. The colour was… pink. Same went with the plugsuit. But like Zack's she had the Australian flag on the back of her plugsuit. Asuka was fuming from inside her Unit 02, which had the white Type-D equipment, which would allow it to fight underwater.

"You'd better shut up if you know what's good for you! I've seen more combat than you have!" shouted Asuka over the com.

"Okay you two, settle down," said Misato. "You two are to go in the water, locate this threat, and eliminate it. And if possible, save as much of the wildlife as you can."

This got a laugh from some of the technicians. But not from Von Croy. He was not a happy person about people laughing during a serious situation.

"THIS IS NO TIME TO BE LAUGHING ASSHOLES! YOU'RE ALL RUNNING 5 LAPS ONCE THIS THREAT IS GONE! NOW GET BACK TO WORK NUMSKULLS!"

That shut the technicians right up. They went back to doing their job.

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Finally, the EVA Units 02 and 06 were launched beneath the surface. They advanced until they were about 500 feet underwater. They didn't see anything. So they continued to advance. 1000 feet, 1200 feet. They had nothing to worry about. They were on power cables that could stretch out 40 kilometers.

As they advanced deeper, Elly began to shiver. "Shit, it's cold down here!"

Asuka couldn't help but laugh. "Just because you have a Type-D EVA doesn't mean it protects you from the elements! My "marshmallow" suit protects me from the hot and the cold! So take that!"

"What's wrong? Too afraid to face the cold?" Elly shot back.

"WHAT? I OUGHTA…"

"Asuka!" Misato shouted over the com. Asuka knew to shut up now. They had now advanced 2000 feet below the surface. Neither pilot saw anything. 2500 feet. Still nothing. Elly had the temperature turned up on her EVA, because it was so cold.

"How much farther can they go?" asked Misato.

"Well, times have made EVA technology much better," replied Von Croy. "Unit 06 can go 3500 feet, while Unit 02 with the equipment it is wearing now can go beyond 5000 feet below the surface."

"You heard that? Elly, you are to stop advancing once you hit 3500 feet."

"Yes ma'am," said the Australian.

The sea seemed to be empty where they were. Just rock formations from the looks of things. Out this far, the ocean seemed to be devoid of any sort of life. Obviously, there would be life still, but perhaps the EVAs had scared them off. Asuka and Elly were out in the ocean alone, with Shinji waiting at the shores, should anything go wrong.

A few moments later, Asuka and Elly spotted something in the water. It looked like an EVA! And it appeared to be setting something down.

"Misato. We've found the target!" reported Asuka. "It's setting something down. There are large boxes with strings attached to them. I'm sending a visual of this now."

Misato received the data Asuka had sent. One good look from a technician confirmed everyone's fears. N2 charges! "Asuka! Those are N2 charges! Stop that EVA! Prepare for combat!"

The two Units advanced on the enemy EVA. The EVA noticed the pink and white behemoths coming at him and also prepared for battle.

"Asuka! I'll disarm the charges, your hands aren't good for bombs! You go after the EVA."

Asuka charged after the EVA. It was big! Suddenly as she was about to impact it, she was suddenly pushed back. "Schiest! It's a jet stream! Dammit!" She tried to maneuver around it, when it suddenly launched a torpedo. She got hit hard. "Dammit!"

Elly tried her best to disarm the bombs. She hadn't had much training in the art of deactivating the bombs because it wasn't necessary. As she tampered with the deadly device, a timer began! (5:00) She then worked furiously to stop the timer.

"Stay calm Elly," said Von Croy. "If that bomb goes off, you and Asuka will be okay."

"Duh! But Sydney's gonna end up like Atlantis if these bombs go off!" said Elly. "Any of you a bomb expert?"

Asuka continued to battle furiously. But with only two fingers and a clunky body, it wasn't easy. Her Type-D equipment was meant for travel, not seriously meant for hand-to-hand combat! The enemy moved like an EVA, but could alter its depth like a submarine. It was too fast. It swam around her and kicked her in the back. She attacked in the same pattern she just did. It swam around her again, but this time, she delivered a hard elbow, catching it by surprise. She then turned Unit 02 around to tackle it, but it swam up and stomped her on the head.

(4:00) Elly wasn't sure which wire to cut. She had taken apart the outer structure of the bomb. Obviously, she figured out that this bomb was connected to the others. So she used Unit 06's progressive knife to cut the links. The other bombs were now no longer linked to the timer.

"Good work Elly," said Von Croy. "But if that bomb goes off, Sydney will be flooded by a tidal wave."

"Thanks for spoiling my joy!"

Elly went back to work. Was it the blue wire? The black wire? Or was it this green wire? She looked at the wires that connected to the different parts. Obviously, this bomb was set up so it could be used underwater. (2:45)

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Shinji watched from the shore in Unit 01. He couldn't see what was going on. But from what he had heard, it sounded like, whatever she was fighting underwater was beating Asuka, and Elly was having difficulty defusing the bombs.

'Why did Father want me up here?' thought Shinji. 'What happened in the outer space incident that made me be personally requested to be here?' He had no memory of what happened after he heard his mother speak to him. After that, he was in the hospital. And according to Ritsuko Akagi, he had hit a 500-sync ratio with Unit 01. 'Could it happen again?'

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Elly had less than 30 seconds. She couldn't figure out which wire it was. As the clock ticked down, Elly did the only thing left she could think of. "Enny Meeny Miny Mo! Catch the koala by the toe! If it hollers let it go! Enny Meeny Miny Mo! That one! With 3 seconds left, she guesses and picked the green wire. With a cut, the timer stopped ticking with 00:00:02 left! She let out a whoop for joy! So did everyone at NERV. She looked behind her and saw Asuka clearly and slowly getting her head handed to her.

"Now it's time to help Asuka whether she likes it or not!"

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Asuka was thoroughly frustrated. Not only could she hit this thing, now Elly was helping too. "I don't need your help!"

"Judging by the condition of your EVA, I'd say you do mate," said Elly. "Besides, he'll won't have leeway taking us both on!"

Now both EVAs attacked the enemy EVA. This time the EVA swam up, staying out of their range. It fired a torpedo. The attack did not create an explosion, but when the dust cleared, Asuka couldn't move. "What the hell! Shit I'm stuck!"

"Oh shit," shouted Elly. "That must have been a freeze missile! And with the water so cold this far down, it's far more effective. I can't move either!"

Now with both EVAs helpless to the coming attack, the two girls could only brace for what was coming. Suddenly, to Asuka and Elly's surprise, they heard Shinji scream over the com again. It took Asuka a few seconds to register in her mind what Shinji was doing, but then she realized it. "NOOO SHINJI! DON'T DO IT!"

Elly had no idea what Asuka was talking about or what was Shinji screaming about. But whatever it was, according to Asuka, it wasn't good. To her shock, suddenly, Unit 01 appeared in the water, ready to face the enemy EVA. To even greater shock, it had grown orange spectral wings!

"Shinji?" Asuka had called over the com. Shinji wasn't responding. Then she put in a call to Misato. "Is he alive?"

"Yes he is," said Misato with a touch of anxiety in her voice. "But he's hit a 500-sync again! And his vitals are ecstatic!"

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Australia NERV HQ - Battle Station

"How can he maintain a 500-sync ratio?" said a technician. "It should have killed him in a matter of seconds!"

"Well that's our Shinji," said Misato. "Asuka, Elly, get yourselves free and get Shinji back up to the surface. He's gonna black out once he's finished battling and his EVA won't be able to withstand the pressure for very long."

"Roger!" the two said in unison.

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The EVA tried to attack Unit 01. With amazing speed, Unit 01 countered and kicked the EVA flying. It crashed into some rocks. Fish could be seen fleeing away from the shattered rock formation that was once there. The EVA quickly emerged from the rubble. It threw a powerful punch at the purple behemoth with orange wings. Unit 01 caught the punch. It tried to punch with the other arm. Unit 01 also caught that punch too. To Asuka and Elly's shock, it delivered a powerful kick to the EVA while still holding its arms. The result was the EVA going flying, but having its arms ripped off by Unit 01 in the process. Unit 01 then flew after the EVA and slowly picked it apart. Within one minute, the EVA was destroyed.

After Unit 01 defeated the EVA, the orange wings faded away and it collapsed. Asuka and Elly went to assist Unit 01. They both rushed quickly to get Shinji to the surface.

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SEELE's meeting room. (Got a lead. It's not in Japan or any of the surrounding countries.)

SEELE 10: Dammit! They defeated us again!

SEELE 03: We cannot tolerate this!

SEELE 01: Calm down. This is all part of my strategy.

SEELE 06: What strategy?

SEELE 02: You're really going to use it?

SEELE 01: Of course. This is but a test. They will never see this coming.

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Somewhere else

A man walked away from his computer terminal. He dismissed his servants for the day. He left his computer room. He proceeded downstairs to the main level of his house. He kept walking. He now went downstairs to the basement of his house. The one part of the house that was off-limits to everyone.

What was down there was horrific. There were candles lit all over the place. There were skulls, books on witchcraft and wizardry. It was a very scary looking place where someone would likely pray to the devil. And there was a pentagram symbol on the wall. The man knelt down before the pentagram and began to chant.

"Ancient powers of the Diablos. I call amongst thee to resurrect one of your own from the depths of Hell!"

The room began to rumble. A voice whispered. "As you wish…"

The man then shouted, "Come forth Jeroboam! And bring the children to HELL! Hahahahahahaha!"

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Asuka and Elly were struggling to bring Unit 01 and Shinji to the surface. After a confirmation that Shinji was alive, they continued to struggle to bring him up.

Suddenly, they heard a rumbling sound behind them. "What the hell!" shouted Asuka.

They looked behind them. The ground appeared to be cracking up as if something was coming to rise from beneath the surface. Black smoke began to creep up until it formed a cloud of it in front of the two EVA pilots. Two red eyes could be made out as the smoke began to take a form. She could see two scaly arms, two scaly looking legs. And a scaly looking head. It was about the size of Unit 02 as well. It was green like a fish. And it looked very menacing, and hungry.

A/N: Think something like the monster in the movie "She Creature". I don't own that movie either.

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NERV HQ - Battle Station

"What the fuck is that thing?" shouted Misato over the com.

"I don't know how it's possible, but it's emitting a black waveform pattern," said a technician.

"An Angel?" asked Commander Von Croy.

"Commander! We're getting a call from NERV in Japan!" reported another technician.

"Put it through!" On screen came Dr. Ritsuko Akagi.

"Hey Ritsuko!" said Misato. "Do you know what's going on?"

"I wish I knew," replied Ritsuko. "I've had the MAGI check it out. It is emitting a black waveform pattern. The biological differences between this thing and an Angel are about 33 percent. And it emits patterns that look like an AT Field. Until we know what it is, Commander Ikari is classifying it as the 1st Black Angel."

Misato shouted into the com. "Elly! Get Shinji to the surface! Asuka, prepare for combat!"

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Asuka in her clunky Unit 02 prepared to face this fish-like creature on her own as Elly desperately tried to drag Unit 01 to the surface. "Okay Fishy, prepare to be gutted and put on the market!"

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The man continued to kneel before the pentagram. Just then, a pentagram appeared on the floor and encircled him.

"Now Jeroboam. Harness the very power that brought you back, and conjure the almighty Seal of Diablos!"

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Suddenly, the fish creature gave off a mighty high-pitched sound. So high pitched that Asuka had to plug her ears. As she looked on outside, she was horrified by the sight she saw. A pillar of fire appeared underwater! It began to circle both Asuka and the creature until a full circle was completed. Then the five-point star was drawn! Asuka quickly recognized the symbol! It was just like when she fought Yami-Asuka in her dream! "Oh shit!" she said aloud.

Elly looked back to see what was going on. From what she saw, Asuka appeared to be trapped in a circle of fire! But how could that be possible underwater?

"Elly! Just keep bringing Shinji to the surface. Then we'll have to find a way to get Asuka out of there!" said Misato.

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Asuka knew this all too well. Obviously this would give the Black Angel more power now that it had used the Seal of Diablos. And it would spell trouble for Asuka, should she lose. But she vowed not to lose, and attacked.

The Black Angel easily swam around the attack and kicked the white covering on Unit 02 flying into the seal wall. Asuka quickly got up. Now the Black Angel had suddenly summoned what looked like an army of piranha! Asuka quickly drew her progressive knife and slashed down the army quickly, guessing that they could do serious damage.

The Black Angel seemed frustrated that its attack didn't work. Asuka decided it was time to knife and gut this fish. However, the Black Angel had the advantage of being able to swim underwater, much to the German's dismay. It swam around and grabbed her from behind. It jumped up, taking Asuka with it, before throwing her back down, Asuka slamming into the ground.

Asuka quickly got back to her feet, and tried punching and kicking it, with some moves she learned from Ivana. But Asuka's fighting was sloppy, and the fact that she had lost her temper made it even more so. The Black Angel dodged the attacks easily and delivered a scaly punch to Unit 02's midsection, scraping the white armouring in the process. And Asuka felt the full impact of the coming kick as well.

By now, Elly had dragged Shinji to the surface, and had gotten him out of Unit 01 and ordered a medical team to take him to NERV's hospital. Now, she prepared to go down and do what she could to help Asuka stop the giant fish.

Now the Black Angel had summoned a whirlpool. It circled around the Seal of Diablos, with Asuka trapped in it, circling about. She was trying to think her way out when…

WHAM! The Black Angel suddenly struck her in the face. It cracked the window of the white armour she was wearing and dented part of the head of the armour.

WHAM! She was now hit in the back. She doubled over in pain in her entry plug. The Black Angel Jeroboam could move freely through the whirlpool while she was trapped in its vortex.

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NERV HQ - Battle Station

"Unit 06 is going back into the water to assist Unit 02," said a technician.

"Elly won't be able to do anything. The Seal of Diablos cannot be penetrated," said Misato. "If Asuka wants to escape, she'll have to defeat the Black Angel."

"The Black Angel is starting to manipulate the water currents!" said a technician.

"What does that mean?" asked Misato.

Ritsuko, who was still on the com gave the dreaded answer. "If it can manipulate the water currents, then it could use the currents to unload tons of pressure on Asuka. Her equipment won't be able to handle it!"

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Asuka continued to get spun around and around. But suddenly, it stopped. She quickly regained her focus. For some reason, it felt like the currents had stopped flowing. She faced the Black Angel. Suddenly, the currents that disappeared had reappeared. The currents slammed into her at full force. The impact was so powerful, that it ripped the Type-D armour right off! Unit 02 sunk helplessly to the floor.

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Inside Unit 02

Asuka had quickly realized the truth. She had lost. And this time, Shinji couldn't help her. He was in no condition to help her this time. She wished she could see him one more time. But her EVA was in no condition to do such a thing. Suddenly she heard a voice.

"Asuka…"

She quickly registered the voice. "Mama?"

"You mustn't give up."

"Mama! I've lost! There's nothing left I can do!" she said to the voice.

"You must believe in yourself. Your heart is much stronger that you believe it is."

"I can't Mama! I've been nothing but a cold-hearted bitch!"

"I must contradict you my child. Your heart is very strong. With the help of the boy you love, your heart has become very strong."

"Shinji…"

"Yes, him. And you've also made his heart stronger too. You two need each other. You must defeat the Black Angel."

"How do I do that Mama?"

"The EVA is a wonder that will forever dazzle mankind. However, they believe it only responds to hate and negative feelings. They do not know that it can respond to love and positive feelings."

"But how?"

"Just listen to your heart Asuka, and it will respond back to you."

Asuka came to realize what her mother was trying to tell her.

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It appeared that the Black Angel had won the battle. The Seal slowly closed in on Unit 02, but suddenly, it shot back out. The Black Angel was definitely angry. This meant Unit 02 still had the will to fight. Despite the fact that Unit 02 did not have the Type-D equipment, it somehow stood up.

The Black Angel went to punch it, but it could not penetrate the AT Field that was suddenly so powerful. A scream of pain could be heard from Unit 02's cockpit. Unit 02 slowly floated off the ground, and similar to Unit 01, Unit 02 grew orange spectral wings!

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NERV HQ

"I don't get this!" the technician shouted. "How could Unit 02's sync ratio be 500 percent?"

"What?" said Misato. She saw the visual on screen. Unit 02 was back up and had wings, like Unit 01 did. "Oh my god! Elly, get Asuka up here as soon as you can!"

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The Black Angel attacked Unit 02. Unit 02 blocked and countered perfectly. This time the Black Angel went flying. In frustration, Jeroboam tried to manipulate the currents again. However, Unit 02 was completely unharmed as it effortlessly walked against the extremely powerful currents. Once it caught up with Jeroboam, Unit 02 punched it in the midsection, Jeroboam roared out in pain. Unit 02 then grabbed Jeroboam, turned the fish sideways, and ripped it in half. There was blood everywhere. Unit 02 then found the core, and crushed it like a grape.

Elly was horrified at the carnage that Unit 02 made of the Black Angel. The Seal of Diablos had disappeared once the fish was dead. Unit 02 had collapsed too. So this meant another rescue mission for Elly. Now she had dragged two EVAs from the Great Barrier Reef.

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Asuka woke up. Last she remembered, she was in Unit 02 somehow talking with her mother. She then noticed she was in a hospital bed. She looked over beside her, Shinji was sitting up in the hospital bed beside her, smiling at the fact that she was okay. She then realized that if Shinji was here and she was still alive, then she must have won the battle somehow.

She then got out of her bed, walked over to Shinji. And they embraced and kissed. For the moment, they didn't care that Elly and Misato were watching them from the outside room.

'Thank you Mama,' thought Asuka to herself. 'Thanks for showing me that my heart is strong, and will always be strong.'

A/N: Whew! That took me a while. Hopefully, I'll be back from my remote location soon so I can post much easier than before. In Chapter 21, the vacation continues! Until then, be cool!


	21. Tanning, Massages, and Beer

A/N: Well, here's the start of what hopefully is another 20 chapters! Hey, if any of you made any artwork based on any of my characters that I inserted or any artwork of the sort, I'd love to see it. Although I have my doubts anyone will make any art based on it, but meh. I had to ask anyway though. I'd post it on my MSN Space. It would be great because I'm rebuilding my Space. I've had some problems in the past and they are in the process of being corrected and eliminating whatever caused the problems as well.

BTW funyons, I don't know who I plan to pair up Zack with yet. I already promised nick2951 I wouldn't pair him up with Ms. Ayanami. The only way you will find out is to keep reading.

But enough of my rambling. Let's reassess. Something came out of the ground after Asuka and Elly's battle with a terrorist. This creature that attacked Asuka has now been classified as a Black Angel. What is it? What new threats await our heroes as they try to get some R&R in Australia? Now on with the story!

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Gendo Ikari's Office

Gendo was going over the data of the battle between Asuka and what was for the moment called the Black Angel. This thing had come out of the ground and it knew the Seal of Diablos. He pondered how well the Committee would take these recent findings. At least he didn't have to talk to SEELE about this.

Another problem on his mind was how the Second Child, Asuka Sohryu, had achieved a 500-sync and grew angel wings during the battle with the Black Angel. Unit 01 was the only EVA that was supposed to be able to do that. His son managed to do that during the aborted 3rd Impact, and again when the terrorists tried attacking from space.

'Those two have some sort of bond that made them able to do that,' he thought. He figured that was all he could tell the Committee at the moment.

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One day after the incident where Asuka and Shinji both hit 500-sync ratios, they were released from the hospital. Once Misato checked them out, they returned to the hotel. While Shinji wanted to use the shower, Misato used this chance to talk with Asuka about her relationship with Shinji.

"What's this about Misato?"

"Oh just a talk between females."

"Get to the point," said Asuka.

"Oh alright. I just wanted to ask you about your relationship with Shinji."

"What about Shinji?"

Misato smiled. "How is he? Is he good to you?"

Asuka smiled right back. "Yeah, you can say that. I still can't believe it took me so long to figure it out. He's been really nice to me. And he always puts everyone else before himself. He almost got himself killed just so he could save me and everyone else."

"Well, as for the choice of potential boyfriends," started Misato. "I think you made an excellent choice. Just make sure he actually doesn't get KILLED. He needs you as much as you need him. You two have helped each other grow and develop."

"Don't worry," said Asuka. "I know what I gotta do. For starters, just don't do what you and Kaji did to have your relationship in the quagmire it is in right now."

"WHAT WAS THAT?" shouted Misato.

"Hey, I was just kidding!"

Misato crossed her arms. "Good." She had to get back at Asuka for that last comment, joke or not. No one would or should speak about her relationship with Kaji the way Asuka did. "By the way Asuka, I got a question only you can answer."

"And what would that be," asked Asuka with a look of curiosity on her face.

"Is Shinji a good kisser?" Misato bluntly said.

"WHAT?" came Asuka's outburst.

"Well, you would know better than anyone," chuckled Misato. "You two have been kissing all the time, like that time in the elevator. Getting daring are you?"

"You're sick! You're almost as bad as Zack. At least he can keep his comments to himself when he knows to!"

"Come on Asuka. I bet you stuck your tongue down his throat! And you were moaning in that elevator too! I'll bet he was giving you tons of saliva!"

"You are disgusting! I hate to know what you and Kaji do when you spend the nights at his place. I'll bet you moan loud enough to wake the dead!"

"WHAT? HOW DARE YOU!"

A fight of some sorts may have broken out, if Shinji (fully dressed) didn't come out of the bathroom. "What's all the noise?" he asked.

Misato quickly covered up. "Oh we were just getting into an argument over what movies we thought were the best."

"Yeah. My movie ideals are much better than yours," said Asuka.

"NO THEY'RE NOT!"

"Well I'm not sure what movies you're talking about. But I'll bet Rei and Zack may have heard you if they were in their rooms. I would advise keeping it down in the future. By the way Asuka, it's your turn to use the shower."

Asuka went in to use the shower, and Misato decided to leave and find Kaji.

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Outside portion of the Starlight Paradise Hotel's restaurant.

Zack and Kaji were having a man-to-man talk. "So what's on your mind?" asked Kaji.

"Oh, I'm just having girl troubles," said Zack. "I've been searching, been with many different girls, but I just haven't found the One yet. I'm not sure how I can tell. And I always thought my techniques were flawless, but apparently they are."

Kaji smiled. "See that pretty girl over there. She's obviously older than you, but you're big enough to be anywhere from 16 to 22. Try asking her out and I'll assess where your faults are."

So Zack walked up to this woman. She was a redhead with a bob-like hairstyle. "Hi there sexy, can I buy you a drink?" He got slapped pretty hard. He walked back to Kaji. "Okay, I admit it. I obviously had that one coming."

"Well here comes a beautiful blonde. Try again," said Kaji.

So Zack tried once more. The blonde sat down, and Zack introduced himself. "Hi there. I couldn't help but notice how beautiful you are compared to everyone else here. Can I have the honour of hearing your name?"

Once more, he was slapped. As he walked back, he said, "I did NOT deserve that."

Kaji face turned slightly serious. "What you don't understand Zack, is that although there are a lot of similarities between men and women. However, the differences are equal to the width of the ocean. What you must do to succeed, is to find those differences. Shinji was able to learn what the differences were and found his way to the ever-so-beautiful Asuka."

"So what are the differences?" asked Zack.

"That, you must find out on your own," said Kaji. "Oh, and just to bug Misato, here's a gift for you. Don't tell anyone I gave this to you." He handed Zack a folded piece of paper. "If Misato is going to blow me off whenever, she'll pay the price. Well I gotta go find her and make up again." He left.

Zack waited until Kaji left. Then he unfolded the paper. On it were the numbers 8745. It took Zack a minute to register what the numbers meant, but a sudden realization came to his mind, and his face gave off a sinister smile. He quickly pocketed the paper.

A/N: Just try to guess what 8745 is. Brownie points for whoever guesses right!

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Beach

Ivana had decided to try tanning with Elly. Rei had also joined in since she said she should not be alone in Australia until her English was perfected. Rei's English was actually coming along quite well.

Elly showed how they should tan, helped them apply the suntan lotion, and set the timer for the appropriate times for when to turn over and tan the other side.

A few boys had come up to hit on the girls, and this was the following result:

Rei was preparing to do "tanning" as Elly suggested. However, three unlucky boys decided they were going to hit on Rei.

"_Hey hot stuff_. _How'd you like to come down the beach and party with us_."

"_No_," said Rei. By now, she had known enough English to tell them to go away.

"_Come on. You'd like it_," one of the boys said. "_Well treat you nice_."

"_I do not wish to come_," said Rei once more.

"_What's with you_? _Are you like zoned out or something_?" the third one said. "_Come on already_!"

Ivana decided now was the time to step in. "Are these boys giving you trouble Rei?"

"What the fuck?" the first boy said. "What the hell did you just say?"

"These boys are… persistent," said Rei.

"I'll get rid of them," replied Ivana. She turned to face the boys. "_Unless you want your faces rearranged_,_ I'd advise you leave us alone_."

"_Who are you telling us what to do_? _Get out of our way_!"

One of the boys pushed Ivana. Little did he know what he had just gotten the group into. Ivana quickly recovered and leveled the first boy with three quick and powerful punches. Now the other boys were enraged. They both attacked Ivana.

She quickly dodged both of them, and decided to attack the second boy. She kicked down the third boy and threw in a flurry of assaults that left the second boy nearly senseless. The third boy charged but was hit by surprise in the chin from a kick by the Russian girl.

The boys quickly ran away at the first chance they got. Ivana was disappointed that they gave up so easily. But some things could not be helped. At least Elly was impressed by Ivana's fighting skills.

"Well, should I ever need a bodyguard, I'll be looking for you mate."

"I was trained in Russian Commando martial arts," replied Ivana. "And I'll gladly say I have mastered my techniques very well."

And so the three EVA pilots applied the suntan lotion and began their tanning session.

A/N: I will keep you posted on how their tanning session goes. So you can stay informed, and I can be amused.

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Shinji was in yet another predicament that made him very nervous and not sure what he should do. After Asuka had gotten out of the shower. She had changed into her bikini and told Shinji to follow her out to the hotel room's rather large balcony.

"Come on already," she had said. Once he followed her outside, he noticed that one of the fold-up chairs had been laid out so if someone wanted to lie down. He watched as she laid face down on one of the chairs. He noticed that there was a white bottle and a soda on the table there.

"What are you doing Asuka?" the curious Third Child asked.

"What do think Third Child? You're going to give me a massage!"

Shinji knew from experience that to complain or voice hesitations usually didn't go over well with Asuka. So he quickly agreed to give her a massage.

"Good. I knew you'd come around," she said. "Now look the other way for a second and don't turn around till I tell you."

So Shinji quickly turned around, with some wonder in his mind as to what Asuka was doing.

"You can turn around now."

So Shinji turned around. Asuka was lying facedown on the chair once more. But this time, she had taken her bikini top off as it was lying on the ground next to her. After Shinji blushed for a moment, he then assessed that Asuka didn't want a big line from her bikini on her back.

"Yeah. You like what you see huh?" said Asuka in a slightly teasing voice. "Don't get any ideas now."

"Don't worry," said Shinji with a tone that combined sarcasm and boredom. He took the bottle of lotion, squirted a small portion into his hands, and began applying it to her back.

Asuka seemed to be enjoying the backrub she was getting, as she just melted into the chair and let Shinji continue massaging her. "Ah, that feels good. A little higher please."

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Beach

The three girls were still getting their tan. Just then, the timer went off. Elly decided to explain the next step to Rei. "So now, we just turn ourselves over, reset the timer, and wait for it to go off again.

"I see," said Rei. "What is the point of all this?"

Elly chuckled. "Silly you. Tans are good to have. Good for the skin, good for the soul. Just don't get sunburn."

"Understood."

So now they turned with their faces to the sun, and continued tanning.

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Asuka was enjoying the backrub Shinji was giving her. Even with all those EVA battles, his hands were so soft on her back. He had done more than he needed, but she loved it so much that she told him to also massage her arms and legs as well.

"Thank you. That's more than good Shinji," she said. "Please turn around for a moment."

Shinji knew she was putting her top back on. Once she gave the all clear, he turned back around. "Now take off your shirt," she ordered. So he complied, not knowing what she was planning. Once he did that, she spoke up again. "Okay Shinji, it's your turn, now lie down on the chair!"

So Shinji did as he was told and laid face down. Now Asuka applied some lotion on his back and began to give him a backrub. Shinji had to admit that this felt rather good. Asuka's hands were so soft. Hard to believe someone who used to be mean and cruel at times could have such soft hands. Just as she did, he melted into her touch.

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Beach

Once more, the timer had gone off. "And that's that," said Elly. She turned to look at Rei. "Holy Outback Rei! You got quite the tan there!"

Rei observed her now darker skin. "So this is a tan. It does look… better."

Just then, a posse of boys came over. Elly quickly knew the first three boys she saw. They were the three Ivana had beaten up earlier.

"Pack up and leave. I'll join up with you shortly," said Ivana. "And while you are at it, order whatever for me."

Elly and Rei knew Ivana could handle fifteen boys on her own. "You got it!" replied Elly as her and Rei left the beach.

As Ivana watched the oncoming posse, she said to herself 'This shouldn't take more than a minute.' She cracked her knuckles and got ready for battle.

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Zack decided to stroll down to the beach. Once down there, he saw a bunch of beaten up guys on the beach, and they all appeared to be older than him! In the midst of all this, he saw a lone person still standing. It was Ivana. So obviously, Zack decided to inquire. "What happened here?"

"This is what happens when you show up a man. He goes out to seek others for support to heal his tarnished reputation," replied Ivana.

"Yeah," started Zack. "But how come they're all beaten up?"

"It's a long story."

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Sundae Bar - Not far from the beach

Elly and Rei went to the Sundae Bar to wait hopefully for Ivana to return.

"Hopefully Ivana will be okay," said Elly. "I know she's quite a fighter, but I think even fifteen-on-one is a bit too much."

"Pilot Kharlamov's skills are unmatched as far as I know," replied Rei.

"Yeah mate, but still…"

Elly was suddenly interrupted by Ivana and Zack coming into the Sundae Bar. She was glad Ivana was okay. To Elly's shock, the only bruises on Ivana were on her hands, where she must have been hitting those boys hard. "Are you hurt?"

"No. I'm just fine. My hands are a bit sore from throwing all those punches," replied Ivana. "Thank you for your concern."

Zack took this moment to speak up. "To celebrate Ivana's victory, I'm buying everyone lunch and sundaes."

"We were going to ask you regardless," contradicted Elly.

"All the more reason to!" Zack said with a grin. And off to the counter he went after getting everyone's order.

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After Asuka was done massaging Shinji, she went to the phone and dialed the NERV HQ number. Shinji was outside, so he couldn't hear whatever Asuka was saying into the phone. Shinji decided to look out onto whatever was going on the beach. While Asuka was still on the phone, he witnessed an amazing thing. He saw this one girl single handedly take out fifteen boys with little or no effort. Afterwards, he went back inside the hotel room. Asuka was now off the phone. "Who were you calling?"

"None of your business," said Asuka teasingly. "Just kidding. I called for room service."

"Oh. I thought you were calling Kaji, or Zack."

"WHAT? HOW DARE YOU!" She took one of the pillows off the bed and walloped him with it.

"Is that a challenge?" she asked after he got her back with another pillow.

"You better believe it is Asuka!"

And so the fated pillow fight between the two lovers began. Asuka came out flying, as that was always her style. Shinji waited as she constantly kept swinging. He used his pillow and waited for an opening in her offence/defense. So when she swung again, he stepped into her offence, blocking her attack with his pillow, slid around her, and got her in the back of the head with his pillow. The German was not impressed.

"W-W-What? How the hell did you do that?" she asked.

"Simple. Your vicious volleys left you wide open. As soon as I found it, I went for it."

"Clever, clever. Things that happen once don't happen twice with me," she said with a smirk. "Don't expect to get lucky again."

So the two resumed their pillow fight. Asuka was getting frustrated by not being able to break through Shinji's defense. So she decided to go with another tactic. She advanced on him. Although she took a hit from the pillow, she used her shoulder and did what Zack called a bodycheck. That took the wind out of Shinji's sails and his lungs as he crashed onto the bed from the impact.

Asuka stood over him triumphantly. "Looks like I win."

"Hey," he replied. "I had to let you win sometime. If I beat you all the time, your self-confidence would drop drastically."

"Like I'm gonna fall for that." Someone was knocking on the door. "You stay right there." It was a NERV employee. He had a bottle of chilled root beer and two wine glasses. Asuka took the tray, thanked the man, and closed the door.

Asuka filled a glass for her and Shinji and walked back to the bed where the Third Child was still catching his breath. She handed him a glass. And after a toast to be together forever, they drained their glasses.

Afterwards, Shinji laid his head back on the pillow, and Asuka laid her head on his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat. "Hard to believe we'd end up being lovers, knowing all that we've been through," she mumbled.

"Yeah. Especially when I think about our first meeting and everything else that's happened."

"I know. But the part I like best is that I got to the end of the trail with ALL its obstacles, and that's where I found you. And that's also where I found out we truly loved each other."

Shinji had a smile that equaled Asuka's. "The night of the fair was definitely the best moment of my life. That's where I found the real you."

Asuka was totally overdriven with emotion, and she had tears in her eyes. "T-Thank you Shinji. I love you."

She moved up his body, and kissed him. It was full of love, and joy at reaching the end of her pathway to love. Shinji returned her love and wrapped his arms around her. He too, found the end of the path he was on. After a full minute, they broke off their kiss. Asuka let her forehead rest on Shinji's collarbone.

"Wow," she muttered giving her and Shinji a chance to catch their breath.

"That… was… good. Asuka?"

"Yes Shinjikins?"

"Could you kiss me like you did on the elevator?"

Asuka looked at him and grinned. "I was gonna do that anyways. Thanks for ruining my element of surprise."

"Sorry."

"Well, you can make up for it by closing your eyes and opening your mouth."

So Shinji complied. And Asuka kissed him once more. This time, she let her tongue enter Shinji's mouth. Shinji let Asuka's tongue dance with his as he caressed her back the way she liked it. She moaned into his touch and continued to kiss him.

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Misato was on her way back to her room. She had spent the last hour with Kaji. She found out Kaji was giving Zack lessons on how to properly woo girls. At least Kaji had one sole-redeeming feature besides somehow being able to capture Misato's heart although there were many moments where she couldn't stand him.

On her way back, she planed to inform Shinji and Asuka of the dinner plans Kaji had set up for that evening. She opened the door and almost gasped. She saw Asuka and Shinji on the bed, making out. She quietly shut the door and continued down the hallway to her room.

But in a sense, she was very happy for the two. Shinji and Asuka had both had horrible lives up to this point. And for them to find love with each other warmed Misato's heart. In ways, she felt like a mother. And if those two one day got married and had kids of their own; she would probably end up being like a grandmother. Not a thought she was ready to deal with.

"Take good care of her Shinji," she said aloud as she found Pen-Pen in her hotel room going through the beer.

"Hey. I get first dibs on the cold ones!"

A/N: Meh. Another fluff chapter. I just love the Shinji x Asuka pairing. I imagined this, and they look so cute together! Maybe 2 more chapters and it'll be time to go back to Japan. Before or after the end of the trip, there will be another attack. Until 22, be cool!


	22. Magic

With this chapter, I'm going to pick up right where I left off last chapter. Well nick2951, let's go with your idea that there is a new Committee with different old coots. However, let's also say these people don't give Gendo a hard time like the Committee before this one. Expect more Shinji x Asuka in this chapter. Now on with the story!

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"Yeah, okay. What? I have to wear something nice? But I didn't pack any suits! Alright fine, I'll go buy one!" Zack hangs up his cell phone. "Shit! I didn't bring a suit!" And so he decided to check out the downtown district to see what he could find. After the sundae treats, he had planned to go for a stroll back down to the beach and try to use Kaji's advice to pick up girls. But the call from Misato had disrupted his plans. So now he was in the downtown district, his attention then temporarily distracted by the taxi that almost ran him over. "_Burn in hell you crazy wide-eyed asshole_!" he had shouted.

He heard laughing behind him. And so he turned in the direction of the laugh. It was Elly. "_What brings you downtown mate_?" she asked.

"_Well_,_ Misato just told me that Kaji set up a dinner plan for all of us and I need to buy a suit_." Zack then asked, "_Why are you in the downtown area_? _Don't you have a dress for the dinner plan tonight_?"

She smiled. "_Yeah I got a dress_. _But I want a different one_._ You can't always wear the same one over and over again_. _You just don't do that_."

Zack got an idea. "_Hey_,_ I got an idea_. _Why don't be both go to a clothing store and find something nice to wear for this evening_!"

Elly seemed to like that idea. "_Score_! _You're definitely more fun than Toji is_. _He didn't even want to go surfing with me because of this Hikari girl_. _He thought I was going to make a move on him and his squeeze would be mad_. _I got some sense_. _Well_,_ let's go_. _To Sears_!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sears either. I'm not sure if Simpson still owns Sears or not.

And so off the Canadian and the Australian went.

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Misato knew she would have to tell Asuka and Shinji about the evening plans. But the last time she saw them, they were enjoying a moment of bliss she did not dare interrupt. So she called Zack and informed him about the plans. Turns out Casanova didn't have a suit, which he was none too happy to have to go get. Rei, Toji, and Ivana were called not long after that. Luckily, they each had something nice to wear.

An idea came to Misato's mind. She could just simply knock on Shinji and Asuka's door and "unintentionally" interrupt the moment. She mentally kicked herself for not thinking of that sooner. So Misato, beer in hand, made her way down to Shinji and Asuka's room. Along the way, she wondered why Shinji and Asuka were the only ones sharing a room. Probably one of Elly's ways of getting at Asuka. Then she remembered that the name on the keys they were given were Shinji and Asuka Ikari. And Asuka didn't like that one bit.

Misato was so lost in her thoughts and the beer that she realized she had overshot the lovebirds' door. Now she had to backtrack ALL 15 steps that she had passed the door by. Curious as she was, she put her ear to the door. Judging by the sounds she heard, they were still somewhat at it. She knocked. After about seven seconds, Asuka came to the door. "What is Misato?" she asked.

"Oh, I just came to tell you that Kaji has a dinner planned for us tonight. So you and Shinji had better have something nice to wear," said Misato.

Asuka reassured her. "Don't worry Misato. I packed Shinji the suit he wore to the Tokyo-3 Ball. If he didn't have me around, he wouldn't know what to do. And I got something as well. So just say the word and we'll be set."

"Great! Be downstairs in the lobby in three hours! Don't get too much lipstick on Shinji now!" Misato quickly shut the door and took off, leaving Asuka no one to yell at.

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Gendo Ikari had been doing some research into the Black Angels. The new Committee had been somewhat more helpful and more pleasant to speak with than the last Committee. He had found out that the Black Angels came from Hell whereas the Angels came from Heaven. And apparently, there were going to be seventeen of them, just like the Angels. However, there was a problem. The Black Angels could all conjure the Seal of Diablos on their own without the chant that enemy pilots have had to use.

Another issue that finally found resolving was Asuka and Shinji both being able to achieve a 500-sync ratio. Shinji had a purpose, which was to decide the fate of humanity during 3rd Impact. Rei had a purpose, which was to fuse with Adam. Or so was Gendo's intent but she fused with Lillith instead. And now Gendo learned Asuka had a purpose. Asuka's purpose was still unknown for the moment. All he and the committee could think of was that Asuka's destiny was linked to Shinji's. The reason their destinies were seemed to be linked was suggested that although Shinji had completed his original purpose. He could still hit high sync ratios. So his purpose was not over yet. The purpose of the others was still unknown at the moment. But any help they could provide would be appreciated.

He was currently on a plane to Sydney, Australia and left Fuyutski in charge of NERV while he was gone. He was going there for three reasons. One, was to officially acquire custody of the Seventh Child, Elly Simpson. Two, was to speak with Commander Von Croy. Third, was to speak with Shinji and Asuka to inquire as much as he could about the 500-sync ratios. He sipped his white wine as he picked up a book and started to read.

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Sears

Zack and Elly were now in Sears. They both knew right away that it would take Elly longer to pick out a dress to wear. So they decided that Elly should pick out something first.

"_So_,_ I'll try this one out first_," said Elly. She had selected many of the pink dresses that were there. "_I want you to judge if they're good or not_."

"_Okay_. _I'll wait here while you try your dresses on_," replied Zack. After ten minutes of waiting and rustling of clothes, Elly emerged.

Elly's first choice had shoulder straps and covered all of her midsection. It came with pink elbow length gloves. "_So_. _What do you think_?"

Zack had a look of approval on his face. "_I think it looks great on you_. _But wouldn't it be a little hot on you though_?"

"_Good point_. _Next dress_."

And so Elly went back into the changeroom. Zack had to wait another ten minutes of clothes rustling. Elly reemerged. And as time went on by, each drsss she was trying on had less and less covering than the previous ones.

Finally, Elly reemerged with the last dress she had found. This one only covered the bare necessities but yet could still be called a dress. "_So_,_ what do you think of this one_?"

"_I think they all look great on you_," said Zack.

"_Meh_. _I was going to choose this one anyway_. _Did you like the show I put on for you_?"

Zack was thrown off by Elly's last comment. But he didn't want Elly to know that. "_Hell yeah_! _I got a private performance_!"

"_Now it's your turn to get changed_!" she said.

Luckily, it didn't take that long for Zack to select something he liked. Elly was slightly disappointed that he didn't go through many different suits. Once they had what they wanted, the both went to the checkout aisle. One could almost say that these two were going out.

Once the two had paid for their choices of clothing, Zack returned to the hotel, and Elly returned to NERV to prepare for the evening.

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Toji had spent a majority of the day talking to Hikari over MSN Messenger. He told her he was having all sorts of fun here in Australia. He told her about the Sea-Doo adventures, the ice cream, the Seventh Child, how Shinji and Asuka were doing. Hikari told Toji that she was happy that he was having a good time. She told him how Kensuke had missed him quite a bit. He had this new movie about the exploits of American soldiers fighting guerrilla fighters in some Middle Eastern country. She also told Toji that she missed him very much and that she had a special surprise waiting for him when she got home. She also thanked him for the postcard that he had sent. NERV's postal system was top of the line.

After saying goodbye and logging off, Toji went to prepare for dinner. He was glad Kensuke and Hikari helped him pack for the trip, otherwise he would be missing a few things to bring. He found his suit and prepared to get ready for the party.

"I wonder what kind of food they'll have there," he said aloud.

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Once Shinji and Asuka heard about the party, they also immediately started getting prepared. Shinji had found the suit that Asuka had packed for him. He changed in the bedroom whilst Asuka was in the bathroom preparing. Shinji always wondered why girls took so long getting ready. They wouldn't have to be there for very long. But then again, that would be a problem he could easily avoid, because he was not a girl. While waiting for Asuka, he turned on the TV. Although he couldn't understand what the channels talked about, it gave him something to do, and hopefully, he could pick up a few English words.

Asuka was in the bathroom getting ready to go to the dinner party. She had already selected her dress that she was going to wear. Little did she know that the dress she selected was the exact same as Elly's with the exception that Asuka's was red whereas Elly's was pink.

The first thing she decided to do was take a shower. This gave her time to think about all sorts of things. She thought about the past few days here in Australia. Elly was such a bitch to her when they first met. She had no business calling her a psychobitch. She thought about the time Zack convinced Shinji that surfing was easy. Served Zack right for getting that shark bite. She reached for the shampoo. While she was scrubbing her hair, she thought about the terrorist attack at the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef. Elly barely had a clue of what to do. If it wasn't for dumb luck, the N2 bombs would have gone off and the resulting tidal wave would have swallowed Sydney. And luckily Shinji was there to save them both from the enemy EVA. But even the Invincible Shinji had his limits. As she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, she then applied conditioner thereafter. She then thought about her battle with what Misato had called a Black Angel. And how her mother had helped from beyond the grave once more. And she had been victorious. But she then pondered the fact that if there was one Black Angel, there were others probably too.

Her next thoughts went to Shinji and Rei. She thought about what they all represented. Rei could usually come across as cold, so she would most likely represent ice. When she thought about herself and what she represented, she thought about what everyone else had thought of her slightly bad temper. Her love of the colour red also came into consideration. Then she decided that she represented fire. Then, her next thought was what Shinji represented. There seemed to be two sides to the boy she loved. There was Shinji at home, who was calm, quiet, and loved to cook. Then, there was the side of Shinji no one should mess with. The side that would even make Ivana and Elly tremble with fear. The Shinji that piloted EVA. So she assumed that Shinji could represent both light and dark. By the time she finished her thought, it was time to rinse the conditioner out of her hair. Once she was comfortable that her body was clean enough, she turned off the faucet and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed the towel nearby and began drying herself off.

Once she wrapped the towel around herself, she went into the bedroom. She noticed Shinji was watching some English channel. And from the looks of things, he was having no luck understanding what was going on. She would need the whole room to get ready, so Shinji would have to leave.

"Sure, I'll go sit on the balcony until you're ready," he said. Shinji took his SDAT player and went out to the balcony to wait for the masterpiece that awaited him in the hotel room.

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As Zack was getting ready, he took this time to ponder his thoughts. 'What's gonna happen now?' he thought to himself. 'Those "Black Angels" sound like the latest perversion to affect this world.'

When it came to EVA, Zack knew he would never the best of the best. He knew that title was reserved for Shinji whether Asuka liked it or not. Although he knew he wasn't the best, Zack knew that whenever he was to be called upon, the Canadian would fight to the best of his ability. Like with the EVA in space, he beat the EVA, but couldn't stop the satellite. Shinji had saved the day there. And then Zack and Asuka turned around and saved Shinji not long after.

Then his mind floated to another thought. Who the hell was his mother? Whoever she was, Zack would hold no grudge towards her. He just wanted to know who she was. An idea hit him like an N2 mine. He could ask NERV for help, because it seemed like they knew everything. They probably knew what his favourite food was and how many slices of pizza he had eaten.

As his mind continued to drift, he thought about Elly and how she was acting in the Sears store. 'What was that all about?' She had put on a show for him in the store, and seemed to enjoy his carefree attitude. 'Does she like me?' he thought. 'And how come this feels so weird? I thought I was used to this. But it feels foreign.'

The last thought in his mind was the real thought he was the most concerned about. 'What the hell was the time?'

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NERV HQ

Misato and Kaji were having a chat over a game of table tennis. It WAS Kaji who taught Misato everything she knew about table tennis. But Kaji was the better one. That didn't stop Misato, who decided to play sober to beat the badly shaven man. The two were so well skilled that they could speak and play yet not be distracted.

"So, what's this restaurant like?" she asked.

"It's a great restaurant. Excellent food. There's even a dance party afterwards. We could even dance again like we used to so long ago."

Misato smiled. "I don't know what it is about you. A part of me can't stand your very existence. But at the same time, when you were dead I felt like I had destroyed a part of myself." 'Dammit! He scored again!'

"Well it's my serve," Kaji replied. As he served the ball over the net, he continued to speak. "We don't need to worry about what happened in the past. Let's just face the future together. Those kids are going to need all the support they can get to face this new threat." He scored another point. "Game to me. We should go get ready now."

"Yeah. I'll see you there."

"Oh, there will be a limo to pick you and the kids up," said Kaji. "And don't worry. The driver knows where to go." He left and gave a salute.

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While listening to his SDAT, Shinji enjoyed the cool night air. To him, it seemed better than the hot blazing sun they have had to deal with for the past few days. It had been an hour since Asuka wanted the whole room to herself so she could get ready for the dinner party. He knew Asuka would be wearing a red dress. The stumper was what would it look like? He checked his watch. They had 10 minutes to be downstairs.

"Yoohoo! Shinji! You can come back in now!" Asuka called out over the SDAT.

Shinji quickly came back inside. He looked and gasped. Asuka was appearing to be wearing a dress, but it only barely covered the bare necessities and it showed a lot of skin.

"Sooooooo, do you like it?"

Shinji had to react fast. "Y-Yeah. It looks great on you."

Asuka seemed to be happy. "Great! I knew you'd like it. I wore this one, just for you. Well, shall we get going?"

A/N: My ability to describe is about as good as the governing done by my country's government. Which is pretty bad. So if necessary, please use your imagination and you have my deepest apologies for any inconveniences.

So they got into the elevator. Being in the elevator reminded Shinji of what happened the last they were in the elevator together. But Asuka didn't kiss him this time.

"Hey Asuka. What's this place like?"

"Well for starters, it must be a place for high society people. Or for anyone with a fat wallet. So that means it must be a good place overall."

Once the elevator hit the main floor, the two found the others waiting for him. When suddenly, Asuka shrieked.

"What is it Asuka?" asked Shinji.

Asuka pointed at Elly. "That beach bum is wearing the same type of dress as me!"

"On the contrary," started Elly. "That psychobitch is wearing the same dress as me!"

"WHAT? Why I oughta…" Asuka was prepared to rip Elly and her skimpy dress to shreds. Elly was ready to do the same.

"C'mon Psychobitch! Come and get me!"

Asuka would have, but Shinji and Zack had to hold her back, whereas Misato held back Elly, even though she put up no resistance, whereas it took all of Shinji and Zack's strength to hold back Asuka. Ivana, Rei, and Toji just watched this drama unfold from the sidelines. Not long afterwards, the limousine came to get the group. So the EVA children, and the still surprisingly sober guardian got in and the chauffer drove off to the restaurant.

After ten minutes of driving, the crew arrived at this restaurant. With translation from Elly, the restaurant was identified as the Heart of Sydney. Once they entered, they could easily see that this restaurant was definitely for the high society. Misato went to the waiter and told him they were with Mr. Ryouji. Once the waiter found out that a Mr. Kaji Ryouji had made a reservation for a table with ten people.

Kaji noticed them all, particularly Shinji and Asuka, who happened to be holding hands. "Well, all of you girls are looking lovely this evening," he bluntly said. Everyone took his or her seats. Kaji decided to continue talking. "Excited about this evening?"

Everyone else said so. Kaji glared at Shinji next. "So, Shinji. Are you taking good care of Asuka?"

Asuka decided she would interject on Shinji's behalf. "Actually, it's more me taking care of him, but there are those few moments where he can take care of me."

Kaji seemed happy with the response. "Wow, Shinji. I'm impressed. So I guess the last step is soon make her Asuka Langley Ikari!"

Misato then smacked the man across the back of the head. "Didn't I tell you a long time ago to cut that out?"

Zack backed up Kaji. "Yeah, I'm gonna be the best man at their wedding. And Rei offered to be the bridesmaid."

This got both guys laughing until Kaji received a slap from Misato and Zack getting a slap from Asuka. Both men shut up.

"Hey Asuka, can Ivana and I be bridesmaids as well?" asked Elly with mock innocence.

Luckily the waiter showed up otherwise something else may have occurred. After food and drink orders were made with Zack, Kaji, Elly, and Ivana making all necessary translations, everything seemed set and everyone seemingly just forgot about what they were talking about earlier. Now the talk was about Ivana's beach brawl.

"And I punched the last boy between the eyes," said Ivana. "I still don't think the fools knew what hit them."

"Wow Ivana," said Misato. "You're braver than most of the men I know. You're a natural warrior."

"I was the pride of Russia," she replied. "On another note Zack, how's that shark bite you got the other day?"

"Oh it wasn't that bad," replied Zack. "However, I bled enough in the water to attract enough sharks to close off the entire beach for the day. Seems like I'm always causing trouble."

They then proceeded to talk about what courses they planned to take during the coming high school year when the waiter came by. "I have something to tell you. A man will be at your table very shortly. He knows you very well apparently."

It was less than shortly. More like immediately. The man who was to join them turned out to be Gendo Ikari! He took the empty seat.

"Father? What are you doing here in Australia?" asked Shinji.

"I came to inform you that because of the threat of the Black Angels, that your vacation will have to be cut short. Also, I came here to acquire the documents necessary to receive custody of the Seventh Child."

"What?" said Misato. "Elly's coming to Japan?"

"That is correct," replied the Supreme Commander.

"Mein gott. Elly at our house…" mumbled Asuka.

"That is incorrect," said Gendo. "The Seventh Child will be living directly at NERV Headquarters, because of… past incidents."

Elly was not pleased to have one of the best times she had ever had, be used against her. Just then, dinner had arrived. Surprisingly, Gendo had a dinner plate too. It was amazing to see what kind of strings the Commander could pull.

The food was fantastic, but very expensive. Everyone shared conversation. Gendo kept rather quiet though. Once the bill came in, Gendo paid for the whole thing and then excused himself so he could go to NERV HQ in Sydney.

The reason for coming personally was so that he could avoid the risk of someone seeing potentially classified information being sent over the Internet.

"Your father is an odd one Shinji," said Misato after the Commander had left.

"You think so?"

Misato gave him a shrug. "Well yeah. Ever since the dunk tank he's been well… not so cold."

Suddenly, the manager came on stage and announced that the music would start and the dance would begin in five minutes. Everyone was encouraged to find a partner. Shinji knew what this would mean. Asuka would drag him onto the dance and force him to dance under the threat of torture, or something along the line of very bad things that could happen to him.

"Oooooohhhh Shinji!" called out Asuka. "Be a good boy and escort me to the dance floor.

Shinji didn't want to be tortured, scorned, or be called "Baka". So he took her arm, and they went off to the dance floor.

As Shinji looked around the floor, he saw the others as well. The never-to-be-understood couple of Misato and Kaji were paired up. Zack paired up with Elly.

Ivana and Toji were also in a dance. Toji was afraid at first, but Ivana assured him that they were just going to be two people enjoying themselves and nothing further.

The first song was a slow one. Everyone slowly moved to the music, finding comfort with the person they had in each other's arms. It was about five minutes, when the song ended. Some people decided to trade dancing partners. Elly paired up with Toji, as it seemed the boy was gaining some confidence. Ivana chose to sit the next one out. And Zack offered a dance with Rei as he did not want to leave her out. Asuka wouldn't let Shinji leave the floor. Shinji didn't even try resisting. Misato decided not to leave Kaji either. It seemed both Shinji and Kaji were only going to have one partner that night.

This piece was shorter than the last one. The musicians announced a quick three-minute break would be had before the next one.

Shinji decided to take a minute to speak with Rei.

"Uh, Ayanami?"

"What is it?"

There was something about Rei that made her difficult to talk to. But Shinji would try. "You were good out there on the floor."

"That was good?" she asked.

"Yeah. Great for someone who doesn't dance that often."

"I see. Then I guess you are also good."

Shinji had an embarrassed look. "Not really. Zack taught me a few moves and I'm surprised at how good I can be when Asuka makes me dance."

"You shouldn't put yourself down like that. One can realize abilities far beyond what they can do when they simply try to be the best they can be."

Shinji was shocked by the advice Rei was giving him. "Thanks Ayanami. I'll put that advice to good use. Asuka's calling me."

"Your welcome Ikari. Watch out for her and yourself. You're more important to her than you know."

After a quick "Thanks", Shinji went back to Asuka.

"What were you talking with Wondergirl about?" asked Asuka.

"Oh I was just telling her how good she was on the dance floor," replied Shinji.

"Oh so you were staring at her the entire time?"

"No. And I could say the same to you about Kaji!"

This got them both laughing. The German seemed rather cheerful this evening. Asuka spoke up once more. "Well, we are having one more song and then we leave back for the hotel. So says Misato."

"Then let's make this one a dance to remember!" said Shinji.

"Hmm, I like it when the Invincible Shinji gets balls," replied Asuka. "I'll keep you to that."

And so, they returned to the dance floor. The song the musicians were playing was piano/guitar version of a song called Cruel Angel's Thesis.

A/N: I am bad. So bad. And I disclaim the ownership of this song. But does anyone know where I can buy a share for Gainax, or a company that owns this series so I can say I own it somewhat?

Asuka and Shinji were a pair. Kaji was still stuck with Misato. Ivana, Rei, and Toji decided to watch from the sidelines. Elly went back with Casanova, saying something about him being more fun than Toji was.

And so the lights dimmed and the music began. If one was to look at these two, the Japanese boy and the German girl, although they were not yet adults, they appeared to be made for each other. This was apparent in their eyes and in their movements as they flowed around the floor butter being spread on smooth white bread.

As the two continued to dance, just like at the Tokyo-3 ball, the spotlight was once again, upon our favourite couple. Shinji and Asuka didn't even notice as they were totally shut off from the rest of the world as they looked into each others eyes as their waltz continued.

To the others, it was like magic. Sheer poetry in motion. Everyone stopped to watch the two. Gendo Ikari had made a quick stop to the bathroom to make a call to Fuyutski. When he came back, he saw the dance was on. But something caught his eye. It was his son, dancing with the Second Child.

Gendo could not but notice how magical the setting appeared to be. When he looked at Shinji, it reminded Gendo of himself, before the accident with Yui. The man he once was. The man he had hoped to be once again. The scene he was observing brought a tear to the cold man's eye. 'Just pure magic,' he thought.

Time seemed to stand still for the two EVA pilots dancing under the spotlight. As the song was nearing its ending, the two couldn't hold their emotions back anymore. For the moment, they didn't care if anyone was watching. The two lovers embraced and shared a loving kiss.

This brought cheers and clapping from the crowd and even the musicians. Shinji and Asuka snapped out of their reverie and noticed the crowd was cheering them on. Zack was cheering and not making any remarks. Same went with Elly. Misato was wiping tears from her eyes.

As Shinji looked at the crowd, he managed to notice one person he quickly recognized. It was his father! Gendo was clapping along with the audience. The man had more tears coming from his eyes. Shinji smiled at him too. Perhaps there was a chance for them to get along again.

As everyone prepared to go back to the hotel. Gendo took a moment to think about what he saw. It was true magic there that he saw on the floor. It reminded him of when he danced with Yui at a dance so long ago.

"Magic," he said aloud as he walked to his limo.

A/N: If I keep this vacation in Australia going any longer, the whole story might finish here as well. Jokes, jokes. Now it's back to Japan. Just to throw in something special, Shinji and Asuka have the power to hit a 500-sync almost at will in their EVAs. What special abilities do you suggest I give the others? Something or nothing? I have an idea for Rei, which I might reveal in the next chapter. And if I do reveal it, it would shock everyone, especially Shinji and Gendo. And I have an ability for Ivana as well. Also, during the battle against the Black Angels, expect other things on the sides in the future, such as a war against an old superpower. And a 7-part mini-saga with the enemy being someone who never saw the anime series.

I talk/write too much. Until 23, be cool!


	23. Manasseh

A/N: Whadya know? My fic got a spot in Evincar's c2! That makes me a happy guy! Thanks Evincar! Anyhow, a few things to say to Vtrahex. I know what you mean about fallen angels, being a Catholic myself. (Don't hold religion against me! Please!) I just figured Black Angels would have a better ring to it. Anyway, you also said how every character except Ivana has a weakness. She does have ONE weakness. She will not refuse a challenge put before her, even if the challenge could result in her getting killed.

Anyhow, now on with the story!

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"Japan is so damn boring!" Elly shouted out loud. She hated living directly at NERV. It was so a sharp eye could be kept on her actions. Especially since she was able to single-handedly "borrow" a tank and take it for a joyride. Upon her arrest, she was discovered as having better scores than all of NERV's first-level candidates. To avoid being charged with several crimes, she agreed to pilot EVA. And that's how she became the Seventh Child. However, she was discovered right after the destruction of the 16th Angel. She thought she would be going to Japan to replace Asuka, who had some sort of problem that made it almost impossible for her to pilot Unit 02. But some other guy had taken her place instead. And that guy turned out to be the 17th and last Angel! 'Wonder who screwed that one up?' she thought to herself as she wandered through the streets of Tokyo-3, familiarizing herself with the fortress city. Eventually, after 3rd Impact, she was given her own EVA Unit 06, and stationed in Australia to fight terrorists that were rising up. She thought Japan was so lame compared to her sunny home back in Sydney Australia.

'So this is where all of us will be going to in September,' she thought while checking out the high school. 'They had better not have stupid history classes where they talk about nothing other than 2nd Impact.'

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"You have got to be kidding me! I can't have two kids walking around my high school with loaded firearms!" The principal of the school Tokyo-3 High was in a heated discussion with Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari. Major Katsuragi was here earlier to tell the principal that Zack and Ivana were licensed to carry firearms with them. The principal refused to allow that and so Gendo had to come deal with this himself.

Gendo was aware of the fact that high school could be dangerous and he could only dispatch a few Section-2 agents to watch out for the kids. But since it was so big, it would be hard to monitor direct movements as usual. So Gendo wanted it to be that Zack and Ivana would carry loaded firearms in the school with them for protection.

"Haper and Kharlamov are both well trained with firearms," started Gendo. He passed the principal some documents. "As their scores indicate, they are very efficient."

"If they have guns, they could threaten the lives of others!" the principal said.

"That is true. But they know the dangers of using firearms illegally. If they are caught doing so, they will be severely punished. And in case I forgot to tell you, I am using NERV's constitutional authority to override any attempts by you to stop me from protecting my pilots." He handed over more documents. "These are the courses my pilots have signed up for. We are done here." Gendo got up with Fuyutski and left with the Section-2 agents.

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Katsuragi Residence

In its own strange way, it felt good be home. The first thing Misato did was refill the fridge with beer. She had used it all up in Australia, and she didn't like the kinds they had there.

A lot had happened over there. The terror attack, the Black Angel, Rei getting a tan, Ivana beating up a gang of guys, the heartfelt dance Shinji and Asuka had, the acquisition of Elly. A lot happened in a short period of time.

Zack and Ivana were practicing with their paintball guns, shooting at targets they had set up in the park. Shinji decided to go hang out with Toji and Kensuke for the day. Rei was reading a book she bought in Australia. Her English was coming along greatly, and with Zack and Ivana as mentors, she could soon be able to speak as well as any Canadian.

Asuka was watching TV. She would have gone with Shinji, but she couldn't stand it when all Three Stooges were in one place. Misato watched Asuka as she picked up the phone to what she assumed was to call Hikari. Misato was right.

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"How could you betray us?" Kensuke was in disbelief. He just couldn't come to grips with the thought that Shinji of all people would the one going out with Asuka.

"Oh it's nothing really," said Shinji. "She's not as bad as she misled us all to believe. She can be really nice."

Toji stepped up. "Yeah, Shinji. She must have been nice. You two were getting kinky in that elevator."

"Whaaaaaaaaaat? You kissed her? How could you? I can't believe you kissed the Devil-Incarnate! You've made a pact with the devil! You're going to burn in the fiery pits of hell!"

Now Shinji was red on the face. He turned to attack Toji. "And what were you doing Toji? I'll bet you were Instant Messaging Hikari!"

This caught Toji off guard. "Uhh, no I wasn't."

Kensuke was even more shocked. "Oh my god! My two best buds are dating the two worst girls possible! The evil class rep and the devil!"

Luckily for the two Toji knew how to drift Kensuke's mind away. "You know Kensuke. You should have seen the battleships they had there. They were amazing!"

It worked. Kensuke was distracted. "Really? Tell me about them! I wanna know!"

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Misato finally had the house to herself, except for Rei of course. Asuka had gone out to hang out with Hikari. So she took this chance to see what courses the kids were taking.

Rei Ayanami

1. Math (Academic) 80 minutes

2. English as a Second Language (Open) 80 minutes

3/4. Japanese (Academic) 2 40-minute periods

5. Lunch 40 minutes

6. Physical Education (Open) 80 minutes

Zack Harper

1. Japanese (Academic) 80 minutes

2. Integrated Technology (Open) 80 minutes

3. Geography (Academic) 40 minutes

4. Lunch 40 minutes

5. Geography (Academic) 40 minutes

6. Physical Education (Open)

Shinji Ikari

1. Food and Nutrition (Open)

2. Music (Open)

3. Math (Academic)

4. Math

5. Lunch

6. Physical Education (Open)

Ivana Kharlamov

1. Japanese (Academic)

2. Math (Academic)

3. Lunch

4. Science (Academic

5. Science

6. Physical Education (Open)

Asuka Sohryu

1. Food and Nutrition

2. Science (Academic)

3. Japanese (Applied)

4. Japanese

5. Lunch

6. Physical Education (Open)

As Misato looked at their courses for the first semester, she noticed Asuka taking the cooking course Shinji wanted to take. She laughed to herself. Usually that class had lots of girls and very few boys. So Misato assumed Asuka wanted to make sure none of the other girls went after Shinji. Auska also could not cook either. Well maybe slightly better than Misato. Maybe…

Misato also noticed that everyone had the same gym class at the end of the school day. Probably to give the Section-2 agents a break by putting them all in the same class so they could keep an eye on all of them at the same time.

Suddenly, she had the urge to go see Kaji. "Rei. I'm going to go over to Kaji's. If I'm not back by tomorrow, don't worry. And be sure to tell the others when they come in."

"Understood," replied Rei. And with that, Misato left.

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Asuka and Hikari were sitting on a bench in the park.

"So how was it in Australia?"

"Oh, it was awesome," said Asuka. "We got to do tanning, go to fancy restaurants, sweet hotel rooms, and we had to fight terrorists down there."

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun," said Hikari in a sweet voice. "So how is Shinji doing?"

"Huh?" Asuka was surprised by the question. Auska knew Hikari saw her hanging out with Shinji at the fair a while back, but Asuka never thought Hikari may suspect it had gone any further. "Oh it's just fine. He's nice and such."

"That's good to hear. Oh look, there's the Three Stooges now."

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The man who was at an important meeting, was once again back in his basement with all his candles, skulls, and anything else considered evil. He was surprised the Second Child was able to defeat the Black Angel he had summoned. Suddenly, another man who was covered by a hood and cape appeared.

"Ah, good to see you in prayer. I apologize if I have distracted you."

The man got up from his kneeling position. "No your Excellency. Not at all. I was just thinking of whom to send next. Jeroboam was a failure indeed."

"Indeed he was," replied the hooded man. "I am aware that you are planning to try methods other than the ones I have provided to defeat NERV."

"You don't approve your Excellency?"

"If you wish to try other methods, go right ahead. It's fools like God who make everyone follow his way, or else suffer. If you have other tactics that you wish to use, then I will endorse your efforts. I must be leaving now. I wish you the best Keel."

After the hooded man had disappeared into thin air, Keel went back into his prayer. "Ancient powers of the Diablos. Once again, I call upon thee to infuse me with the powers to raise one of your own from the depths of hell."

The room began to rumble as the prayer was answered, and Keel was infused with great power. He raised his hands to the sky and shouted.

"Come forth Manasseh! Hahahahahaha!"

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"Well if it isn't the Three Stooges!" said Asuka.

"Well if it isn't the Devil-Incarnate!" said Toji right back.

"What have you done to Shinji?" asked Kensuke. "You've brainwashed him!"

"Kensuke! She didn't brainwash me!" Shinji started.

"Okay, that's enough out of all of you!" said Hikari. "Can't we all get along without fighting?"

"Yeah fine," muttered Kensuke. He pointed at Asuka. "But you better keep your lips off of Shinji! I know what you're doing! You're…"

WHAM!

Kensuke just got his head handed to him by the furious German.

"Well he had it coming," said Hikari. "Didn't you ever learn to keep your comments to yourself?"

"Your true nature is exposed!" shouted Kensuke who slowly made it back to his feet.

Asuka was about ready to punch the four-eyed stooge again when suddenly, alarm began blaring, signaling that something was about to attack. The pilots raced towards NERV while Hikari and Kensuke raced towards the nearest shelter.

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NERV HQ - Battle Stations

"It looks like a giant arachnid. Similar to that Angel that attacked when we had the power failure. It's stationed outside the city and is slowly advancing towards Tokyo-3," reported Shigeru.

"It's got that Black Waveform pattern that the guys in Australia were talking about," said Makoto.

"What more do we have on this Black Angel?" asked Ritsuko.

"It's blue, has a scary looking face, four legs, and the MAGI assume that its front legs are its primary weapon as the legs are like blades," said Shigeru.

"I see," replied Gendo. "Classify it as the 2nd Black Angel. Go to 1st Stage Alert. Have Units 00, 01, and 02 fight this battle. The other pilots are to watch, as they will observe how to fight an Angel."

"Roger. Pilots are in the launch bay."

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Launch Bay

Misato was not happy about having her trip to Kaji's be interrupted by the coming of another Black Angel. But that did not matter at the moment, as she was giving her usual pre-battle briefing to the pilots. However, only Rei, Asuka, and Shinji were to fight this battle.

"Okay, we got a big bug to swat. It looks like an arachnid. But according to what we know, it will likely attack with its front legs, as they are like blades. So whatever you do, DO NOT engage it from the front. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" said the three originals in unison.

The three pilots got into their respective EVAs.

"EVA Unit 00, launch," said Rei. Unit 00 was launched into battle.

"EVA Unit 01, launch!" said Shinji. His EVA launched up.

"EVA Unit 02, launch," said Asuka. Her EVA followed suit.

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Tokyo-3 - On top of a random building

A man whom had his face hidden under a hood and cape watched as the three EVAs launched into battle against the new Black Angel. He stood on one of the buildings in the city.

"Welcome back Manasseh. I hope being in hell for too many years hasn't made you rusty. If you are successful, you will be able to turn these kids into cold cuts. If not, you will suffer dearly, so as my master wills it."

Another hooded man appeared behind the first one. The second hooded man's face was also hidden under his hood. He kneeled and then spoke, "The 3rd and 4th are ready to be summoned should the second fail, my master,"

The first turned around to face the second. "Good. But inform Keel that Oholah and Ohlibah will work best when both are summoned at the same time."

"Yes my master." The second man vanished into the air.

The first hooded man began to watch the battle. "So let's see how good these kids actually are."

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The three kids each selected a progressive sword to protect themselves from the arachnid's deadly arms. As they tried to circle around it, the Angel kept moving with them, keeping all of them in front of it.

Suddenly, the Angel swung its arms at Asuka. Unit 02 managed to dodge the blow, but one the mountains was hit. It slid down in a clean cut.

"Schiest! Those things are sharp!" Asuka said over the intercom.

"The best way to get one of us behind it is to spread out around it in a triangle formation," said Shinji.

"Impossible. It would have easy access to our umbilical cables, then we would have a limited amount of time to beat it," replied Asuka.

"Then we must engage it head-on," said Rei.

"Why?" asked Asuka.

"The head is likely to be its weak point as it is protected by its arms."

Shinji stepped up. "Then I'll go first."

Shinji attacked the beast with his sword. The Black Angel used its blade-arms to counter. But Shinji blocked the attacks and parried with his own. He managed to cut it just below one of its eyes. The Black Angel roared out in pain. Suddenly it jumped into the air.

"Look out Shinji!" shouted Misato over the com.

As Shinji jumped back, the Black Angel attacked from the air, using its arms to impale the ground where Shinji was a second ago.

"Dammit Shinji! Be careful!" shouted Asuka.

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The hooded man on the roof watched with interest as the EVAs, one after another, made attempts to attack it, only to get forced back by the Black Angel's deadly leg-blades.

"All right Manasseh. It is time to use the power you have had bestowed upon you."

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As Rei planned to take her second turn to attack, there was something weird about this Black Angel that made her stop. Then she got a disturbing feeling. It felt familiar too. She sensed the same presence when she fought her clone who was infused with dark magic. "Watch out!" she called to her comrades.

But it was too late. The Seal of Diablos was cast, and this time, the Black Angel had chosen to fight all three of them. So the unholy circle that they were trapped in would be able to contain all four combatants. The Black Angel's eyes turned a demonic red. And the Seal also appeared on its forehead.

'This battle has gotten a lot more dangerous,' she thought to herself. 'I can't let Ikari or his love get hurt.'

"Indeed," said a voice in her mind. "You know what you have to do."

'What was that voice?' she wondered. 'I cannot worry about it right now. I must defeat this Black Angel.'

"Ikari. Sohryu. We should attack it together. It would three blades against two. I have doubts it will be able to handle the three of us attacking at once."

"Leave it to Wondergirl to come up with the battle plan," said Asuka sarcastically.

And so they all attacked together. The Black Angel was infused with the power coming from the Seal, so its arms were extra fast.

"Dammit! Why do these things have to use magic to fight? Why can't these things just fight fair?" said Asuka who was now frustrated.

Suddenly, the Black Angel jumped again. It moved to attack Shinji with its blade arms. Rei, on impulse, shoved Shinji out of the way.

It was a horrible sight to behold. Unit 00 got skewered by the blades from the Black Angel's aerial assault.

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NERV HQ -Battle Station

"Unit 00 has suffered serious damage!" said Maya.

"Pilot is alive though," reported Shigeru.

"Be careful out there!" shouted Misato.

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Asuka now fought the Black Angel alone while Shinji used Unit 01 to drag Rei and Unit 00 away from the fight.

"Ayanami! Are you okay?"

"I'm… fine. You must… help Sohryu." She hands him her progressive sword. He takes it and goes to help Asuka.

"Heads up Asuka!" Shinji shouted. When Asuka backed off and looked. Shinji was attacking the Black Angel in a fury with his and Rei's swords.

Asuka watched as Shinji and the Black Angel continued to exchange blows. She wanted to help, but she was afraid of getting in Shinji's way and distracting him.

From the looks of it, Shinji was slowly gaining the upper hand. 'Mein gott, he's one guy you don't want to get mad.'

Shinji then caught it off balance and slashed the body of the arachnid. But suddenly, to Shinji's surprise, it countered and severed Unit 01's left arm below the elbow.

"Shinji!" yelled Asuka. She now rushed the demon. As Shinji stumbled back to absorb the pain he was feeling, Asuka picked up his sword and continued what Shinji had started.

Asuka was attacking in a blind fury, and her efforts were futile. She got stabbed in the lower part of Unit 02's chest. That hurt a lot. Asuka went stumbling back, trying to get out of the range of the demon's blades.

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"We've lost contact with the pilots!" said Makoto.

'Oh my god,' thought Misato. 'Hang in there you three. Don't go dying on us.'

"Unit 01 has suffered damage! Unit 02 has been damaged as well," reported Maya. "What's this? There's some sort of mental interference in Unit 00!"

"What do you mean?" asked Ritsuko.

Maya continued. "Something's interfering with Rei's concentration!"

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Rei's mind

Rei suddenly had blacked out from the pain she was in. Her injuries were more serious than Asuka's or Shinji's. Suddenly, she seemed to be in some other place. At the other end, she saw a silhouette.

"Who are you?" Rei asked the silhouette.

"You know me better than you think. In a way, you are me as I am you," replied the voice.

"Why are you in my dreams?"

"I don't know that myself. I know that you are the Rei from Unit 01's dummy plug. However, thanks to Shinji during 3rd Impact, you were able to recover your 2nd and 3rd's memories and incorporate them into your conscious."

"How would you know that?" asked Rei.

"I share a bond that is very important to Shinji. I also share a connection with you as well. We both know of the danger that is outside of your consciousness."

"How can you help?" asked the albino girl.

"I can help you. It may seem like I'm invading your mind and body, but relax. I'm only here to help."

"I understand. Protect my friends," said Rei.

"Count on it," said the voice.

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NERV HQ- Battle station

"The second presence in Rei's mind is taking over! It's some sort of contamination!"

"Is it the Angel?" asked Ritsuko.

"No. This one manifested itself from inside Rei's consciousness!"

"What?" said Gendo in shock.

"But whatever it is," continued Maya. "It's giving Rei a 100-sync."

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Shinji and Asuka slowly made it back to their feet. Unit 01 was missing its left arm and Unit 02 had some nasty slash wounds. They slowly picked up their swords. But suddenly, Unit 00 began to act weird.

Shinji kicked up the visual com to Unit 00. "Ayanami? What's going on?

Rei looked like something was going to possess her. After a few seconds, she settled down. When she spoke, it wasn't Rei, but an adult woman's voice instead.

"Alright Shinji! Let's swat this bug!"


	24. Iron Maiden Part 1: Discovery

Woo-frickin-hoo! I got my own laptop! This'll increase the overall possible time I have to work on my fanfics while I tackle university. The only real problem left over is my brat sister, who seems bent on doing everything possible to bother or irritate me.

Anyhow, last where we checked, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei were battling another Black Angel. And they were getting beaten in a 3-on-1 Seal of Diablos battle. The Black Angel is a four legged arachnid with its front legs being blades. And to have things get any worse, something is interfering with Rei's thought process. However, this gives Unit 00 a 100-sync ratio. And now, Rei does not speak, but the voice of an adult female. What's going on? On with the story!

"What?" asked Shinji. "Rei? What's going on?"

"We can't worry about that right now Shinji," replied the voice speaking through Rei. "We can talk about who I am once we kill this Black Angel."

"Great, now Wondergirl has a new voice and a personality overhaul," muttered Asuka. 'But this might be our only chance. Can we trust "Wondergirl 2?"

Units 01 and 02 slowly made it back to their feet and drew their progressive swords once more. The Black Angel stood ready to fight.

"So Rei, how do we strike its head?" asked Shinji.

"We can't strike it head on from the front. It's vulnerable from underneath. It's bigger than we are. But with the way it's shaped, it can't attack anything from underneath," replied the possessed Rei. "I'll need you two to hold it off for a minute while I get under it."

"Why should we trust you?" asked Asuka. "You're not even Wondergirl! And I had enough trouble trusting her!"

"Rei" responded. "I've seen how you have been with Shinji. I can trust you. And if can trust you, then so can I."

"Alright," said Asuka. "Count me in."

'Strange,' thought Shinji. 'I've got a feeling I've heard that voice before.' "Count me in too."

"EVA Units, go!" shouted the possessed Rei.

Shinji and Asuka moved their EVAs into attack position. Once more they clashed with the Black Angel and its deadly arm-blades.

Unit 00 with its possessed pilot waited. 'Patience. Wait for it,' the possessor thought.

"Look out!" shouted Shinji.

The Black Angel jumped into the air, meaning to use its airborne skewer attack. Shinji and Asuka backpedaled and barely dodged the attack.

"Schiest. That was too damn close," said Asuka. "Where is Wondergirl 2?"

"Look!" replied Shinji.

Unit 00 was underneath the Black Angel, out of range of the blade-arms. Somehow, Unit 00 had gotten underneath the demon with super speed.The Black Angel tried to move around and get Unit 00 underneath it into range of the blade-arms. But it wasn't working.

It was clearly over. The Black Angel was now distracted by the two-pronged attack from underneath and in front of it. Suddenly, Unit 02 stabbed the Black Angel in the head. Then Unit 01 stabbed it. Then Unit 00 stabbed the Black Angel. Three mortal blows to its core, which was in the head was more than it could take. It fell down, the will to live gone.

With the death of the Black Angel, came the disappearance of the Seal of Diablos. Now with its death, came the question Shinji and Asuka wanted to answer. Who was Rei's possessor?

"So Wondergirl 2," started Asuka. "Who the hell are you?"

"That is a very complex question," replied Rei's possessor. "I have once lived on your plane of existence. However, since an accident I had years ago, I moved onto another plane. However, I still have connections to this plane as well. Connections with Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami."

"I don't understand what you mean by that," said Shinji. "Can you give us your name?"

Over the visual com, Rei's possessor bowed her head down with a sad look on her face. "Okay, I'll tell you. My name is…"

Shinji and Asuka paid close attention. Finally they would get a name for their savior.

"…Yui Ikari."

----------------------------------------------------

NERV HQ – Battle Stations

"The target has gone completely silent," reported Shigeru.

"Reestablish communications now," ordered Misato.

"We can't. Their communications were damaged when they were hit by the Black Angel's attack," reported Makoto.

"Rei's sync is still 100," said Maya.

"What is up with Rei? Send recovery teams up now," said Ritsuko.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"What the hell!" shouted Asuka. "Is this some sort of a joke?"

"I wouldn't lie to my own son," replied Yui, who possessed Rei's body. "As you may know, my soul lives in Unit 01, and still does. Also, the Rei Ayanami you see here came from Unit 01's dummy plug. My guess is that part of my soul came into contact with Rei during the mind crush of 3rd Impact. And now part of me exists in Rei as well. Rei was injured during the fight, and I was able to come forth and…"

"And what?" asked Shinji.

"I'm sorry," replied Yui. "Because only a fragment of my power exists in Rei, I can only hold on for a short time. I must go for now."

"No mother! Don't go!" shouted Shinji.

"I'm sorry Shinji. I wish I could stay too. As I speak, my power weakens. Before I go, I just want to say, I love you Shinji. I've waited so long to tell you that, and now I have. I'll always protect you as long as you pilot Unit 01. Goodbye Shinji…"

Shinji was brought to tears. "Goodbye Mother…"

"Take good care of Asuka, Shinji…" she said before blacking out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm not sure how to explain it." Ritsuko was informed of what happened and decided to give Rei a full checkup. "The only thing I can come up with is that this Rei was once in Unit 01's dummy plug. Part of Yui's soul is now manifested inside of Rei."

"Is it hazardous to Rei?" asked Misato.

"I doubt it," replied the doctor. "It was Yui's personality as far as I can remember that possessed Rei. And if it was Yui, then I see no danger to us, as Yui has protected Shinji before. And she did again by taking control of Rei. And as for Shinji and Asuka, they get a clean bill of health. An eye just needs to be kept on Rei."

"How did Father react?" asked Shinji.

"Knowing him and his history with Yui, he was ecstatic. He was so saddened when he only got a response from Rei and not Yui," said Misato. "He was so saddened that he left and transferred command to the Sub-Commander for the day."

"I hope he's okay," said Shinji.

------------------------------------------------------

After getting all the LCL cleaned off, our heroes returned back to the Katsuragi residence with empty stomachs. All six of them had crowded into Misato's car.

"Gosh, with all of you, it's impossible to fit all of you. You're all so big!" said Misato.

"What about you? Aren't you big?" asked Zack.

"What was that?"

"Exactly what it sounded like!"

Misato was NOT going to let Zack get away with calling her big. "Oh Shinji, since you fought so hard tonight, you can have tonight off and Zack can cook tonight."

This brought a really loud groan from everyone else since everyone loved Shinji's cooking. "I guess it's hotdogs and hamburgers tonight," said Ivana with boredom in her voice.

'We'll find out who has the upper hand in the end,' thought Zack as he remembered the slip of paper Kaji had given him in Australia. 'We'll find out.'

Once they had gotten home, Zack went straight to the grill with the hotdog wieners and burger patties. Everyone groaned. "You had better do then well Casanova," said Asuka as she turned on the TV.

"Whatever," said Zack as he turned on the barbecue.

It was a quiet evening after that. Luckily for Zack, he had barbecued well. Also while they were away, NERV had someone finally come to fix the broken balcony window that Shinji and Asuka had sent Zack through before the vacation.

Misato showed everyone what they were taking in high school. "The school you will be attending is Tokyo-3 High," said Misato. "Here are the courses you have been signed up for."

Everyone got their course sheets. Misato had a question for Asuka. "Asuka, why are you taking a cooking class as an elective? You hate cooking," she asked while getting a beer out of the fridge.

"Why else?" she replied. "I wanna learn how to cook."

Zack stuck his nose in. "I know why. Asuka couldn't care less about cooking. There are practically no guys in the class. Shinji may be the only guy with the exception of a few others. A high chance the girls will be swarming him. Asuka plans to keep them off her Shinji."

This made Shinji and Asuka turn red. Shinji was red with embarrassment, while Asuka was red with anger. "Mind you own business you pervert!"

Misato broke up the fight with another announcement. "As you all know, you all have the same Phys. Ed class. This will give the Section-2 agents a break from having to monitor your activity if you are all in the same place."

Everyone seemed okay with that. They all were about to go back to their current activities when Misato had one more announcement. "Oh Zack and Ivana. Commander Ikari spoke with the principal a while ago. You two can carry your firearms to school. However, you are only to use them in case of your lives or the lives of your fellow pilots are threatened."

"Understood," they both replied in unison.

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SEELE's Meeting Room

SEELE 08: Once again, we lose to NERV.

SEELE 02: Chairman! How much longer do we have to put up with this?

SEELE 01: Relax. I have another plan I wish to put into motion.

SEELE 12: Does the master approve of this?

SEELE 01: Yes he does. He says we may try any method we believe may work.

SEELE 05: So, what is your current plan?

SEELE 01: I plan to send in a lone operative. This operative will find out everything we need to know. And soon we will have all the data we need for our ultimate weapon from our contacts around the world.

SEELE 03: Ah yes. I see now. Is this operative up to the task?

SEELE 01: Yes. The operative in mind is very much up to the task. A calm, apparently peace-loving person. But when confronted, can be very deadly.

SEELE 10: Sounds exciting. To watch NERV crumble from the inside out is a rare treat.

SEELE 11: And if that doesn't work, we can always use our rebuilt EVA Series, and/or unleash the 3rd and 4th Black Angels.

SEELE 07: That is true. But it wouldn't hurt to see if this will work.

SEELE 01: NERV will know what it is like firsthand to deal with the Iron Maiden!

The obelisks started laughing until a hooded figure entered the room.

"Your Excellency," the SEELE computers said in unison.

"At ease," replied the hooded man.

SEELE 01: Is the training complete?

The hooded man nodded. "Yes, your operative is fully conscious of the power to conjure the Seal of Diablos. Hopefully, if it goes as planned, the Black Angels will not be necessary. But at the same time, I see where you're going with this. NERV will not expect anything like this. My master wishes you good luck."

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NERV HQ – Gendo Ikari's Office

Gendo had given himself a day to get over the fact that he had failed to see Yui once more. He had seen her during 3rd Impact like he wanted, but for a short moment in real life, according to Dr. Akagi, Yui, for a moment, was living inside Rei Ayanami. And the fact that he couldn't speak to her hurt him emotionally. He transferred power to Kozou for the day. And now he was back, and with more reports on his desk.

'Let's see here,' he thought to himself. The first report he went through was the First, Second, and Third Child's health reports. Dr. Akagi had given them a clean bill of health, except for that mental interference in Rei. 'Good. We'll especially need Shinji and Asuka to be okay, especially if my hunch about what those two can do is correct.'

The next report he looked at was a complaint from the school board that the kids would be attending. Now the board chairman had a problem with the Fifth and Sixth Child carrying their issued 9mm firearms. "Seems like someone doesn't care that I want my pilots to have the best protection possible, and what better than my best agents and two pilots who have excellent shots." He would have to invoke his authority AGAIN, and make sure the point was clearly made across this time.

The next report shocked him. 'What's this? They may have discovered another potential Child?' This had to be impossible! Gendo had not made plans to acquire another pilot. He had miraculously reacquired Pilot Suzahara; he had Pilots Kharlamov, Harper, and Simpson as well. And now another? He looked through his files to see if there was another EVA he could acquire somewhere around the world. After a quick search, it appeared Unit 07 was just about completed in England. But still, this was unexpected. The new coming pilot would have to be on hold until Unit 07 was completed.

As he looked at his reports, he asked himself, 'Who is Mana Kirishima?'

A/N: I apologize for the shortness. But as the title suggests, this is the start of a saga. The Iron Maiden Saga. As you may be aware, I'm in university right now and very tied up! If I got Mana's last name wrong, I apologize. If I'm wrong, can someone tell me the correct name please? Well, until 25, be cool!


	25. Iron Maiden Part 2: First Meeting

A/N: I'm going to pull a Shinji and apologize. No I'm not discontinuing. I'm going to apologize for what I plan to do with Mana Kirishima. She may seem normal at first, but then as my warning is, she will get very OOC. Very, very, very OOC How? I won't say. You'll have to read and find out. Now on with the story!

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"What the hell is this?"

Gendo was extremely confused at the report on the alleged Eighth Child. So confused that he called his Vice-Commander into his office on this matter.

"These are the reports I got that were to be filed directly to you. The news about the Eighth Child just came up today and was to be filed immediately to you."

Gendo pushed up his glasses a bit as he looked at the report again. "I already knew about Pilots Harper, Kharlamov, and Simpson by the 6th Angel. They were just unnecessary so that's why they were never commissioned. This one just came out of nowhere."

"You knew?" asked the shocked old man.

"Yes. The difference is with this one is that she was just added to the list TODAY. Something does not add up. What are the alleged scores?"

"The scores are acceptable," replied Fuyutski.

"Something is not right about this. I cannot recall an extra sync test even taking place."

Fuyutski spoke of again. "What shall we do?"

"We shall just observe for the moment. Patience will be our strongest virtue to solving this mystery," replied the Commander. "Keep this quiet."

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NERV HQ – Lounge

"So now we have an Eight Child," said Misato. "One more and we'll be able to match the EVA Series in numbers."

"Yes," replied Ritsuko. The women were talking over a coffee and a beer. "Our reports say she comes from Hiroshima. Born and raised there. She was home schooled, so she has no school records."

"She must have been lonely."

"Well she seems very nice and polite when I spoke to her," said the doctor. "Almost like a female version of Shinji. I was really shocked how she knew my name without me telling her."

"I guess she's on top of things," said Misato. "Just like how I always wanted to be. Always wanted to be on top of everything."

"Yeah, including being on top of Kaji."

"HEY!"

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NERV HQ – Conference Room

Later, the kids were led into a conference room where Misato awaited them. "Kids, we have good news. We have another pilot. So please give her a warm welcome."

'Great. Another pilot,' thought Asuka. 'Hopefully she won't be like Elly.'

In the room came a girl about Asuka's height with mahogany coloured hair. She proceeded to introduce herself. "Hi everyone. My name is Mana Kirishima. I hope we can all get along."

'So, another girl,' thought Zack. 'Lucky me that Shinji and Toji are already taken. So by default she'll choose me. Heh heh.'

Mana decided to check out Shinji first. "So you're the all-famous Shinji Ikari. Wow, you're cuter than what people say about you."

"Uhh yeah. I guess," replied Shinji. He could see fire burning in Asuka's eyes. If her eyes were laser beams, Mana would have two clean holes in her head.

Next was Toji. "So you're the great Toji Suzahara. Wow, a girl like me could use a big, strong guy like you."

Toji was speechless. Everyone knew that Hikari Horaki liked Toji, and that anyone who got in her way would get a deal of punishment class rep style.

'Whoa, that was uncalled for,' thought Zack.

Now she went to Zack. "I can tell by looking at you that you are a ladies man. And you'll do anything to get cozy with a pretty lady."

Misato decided to intervene, as business still needed to be done. "Okay Mana, you will be piloting Evangelion Unit 07. It is currently being worked on in Britain, so you'll share Unit 00 with Rei Ayanami as a reserve."

"Yes ma'am," replied Mana. So where is my place?"

"It's on this sheet of paper. So get settled in and report back here tomorrow. You are all dismissed."

"Yes ma'am," the kids said in unison.

"Goodbye everyone," said Mana. "Oh and Shinji, take this. A little gift from me." She handed him a small piece of paper and left.

Shinji unraveled the paper and gasped. It was her phone number! Now Asuka was really mad. "Okay, that was WAY out of bounds! That bitch had better keep her hands off my Shinji if she knows what's good for her!"

Ivana had to agree. "She most likely knew, but she didn't care. How rude."

"Who cares?" said Zack. "She was HOT! If only she gave me her phone number."

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Mana was on her way out and she planned to go get something to eat, and then move into her new apartment. Disappointingly, it was closer to NERV, so she would have to walk a bit to get to Misato's house to see Shinji.

While she was walking, she noticed someone standing in her way. It was that red-headed girl, Asuka Sohryu. And she did not look happy at all. "What's wrong? Asuka was it? How come you're angry?"

"Look you bitch, I'll say this only once. If you know what's good for you, you will keep your slimy hands off my Shinji! You got that?"

"Slimy? You have the sweaty hands, not me."

"What! How dare you! I've got my eye on you mahogany-headed bitch!"

Mana watched as Asuka stormed off.

'Yeah, yeah whatever. You will soon realize I can get whatever I want. Anything I want.'

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NERV HQ

Elly pondered the day's events as she cooked dinner. The employees apparently thought she was a good cook. So good that now she was also cooking for Dr. Akagi's staff as well. 'Oh well,' she said to herself as she checked the pasta. 'I get paid extra for this, so I'd better do this right. But hey, it's Kraft Dinner.'

Elly's next thought drifted over to Mana Kirishima. 'Who does that Mana girl think she is? No one flirts with Asuka's boyfriend but me! I hope she stops flirting with Toji and Zack too! That's my job! She can go flirt with Commander Ikari! He's been free for 10 years!'

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Misato's Apartment

Zack decided to watch the news. As lame as it usually was, his RCMP training taught him that it was important to always stay on top of the events going on in the world.

TV: And that's how a cougar became a firefighter.

"Yeah whatever."

TV: In other news, we are still monitoring the theft of military equipment from Area 51.

"What?"

TV: Apparently, someone had infiltrated the military base, and have somehow ripped off very important military equipment. The military has confirmed that all of its WMDs are accounted for.

"Whew."

TV: The military is continuing its investigation. They refuse to disclose what was stolen, but reassured the public that NO WMDs were stolen. The FBI and the CIA are also investigating.

"Great. If someone can infiltrate Area 51 of all places, they could possibly infiltrate NERV. I'd love to see someone try ripping off an EVA without getting three dozen bullet holes.

Ivana joined him. "That does send a chill down the spine. If the Americans can be infiltrated, that does not say a lot for the rest of the world."

Zack agreed. "Yeah, and Canada is even worse off when it comes to security. We rely on the RCMP, the police and whatever troops NERV can give us. So I'd be scared if Canada got infiltrated. By the way, how's Shinji and Asuka doing?"

"Well, you know the remedy for that. Pay LOTS of attention to her. And Shinji did just that. So she's in a better mood. But I fear Mana may carelessly advance on Shinji and invoke Asuka's wrath."

"Possibly," said Zack. "But besides that, she appears to be a nice girl. Hopefully we can all be friends despite her flaws."

"Yes, that is true."

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Shinji continued his cooking. Apparently it took him some time, but he was able to bring Asuka's temper back to normal. Mana seemed like a nice person to be with, but his loyalty was to Asuka as is her loyalty to him.

Shinji was cooking German style sausages, which Asuka was sure to like, to go along with a vegetable pasta he thought up how to do on the spot. That would be a treat everyone was sure to like. He checked it closely. 'Ah, it's almost done,' he thought to himself.

Shinji decided to call his father while he was waiting for dinner to be ready. After getting a hold of the dispatch, he was routed to Gendo Ikari's phone.

"What…" came the brash voice over the phone.

Shinji was startled as always. "Uh… hey f-father. How are you?"

Gendo was quick to respond as always "Shinji. I can only spare a few minutes. What do you need?"

Shinji took a moment before speaking. "I just wanted to know how you were doing."

"I see. Everything is fine over here. I am just looking over some paperwork. I trust everything is fine at your residence as well."

"Yes. Everything is fine," replied Shinji.

"Good. I must get back to my work now. Try to call when I am not as busy."

After he hung up, Shinji went back to attending to the meal he was cooking. When someone suddenly covered his eyes with their hands. This startled him enough to make him scream.

"Whoa! Chill out!" The voice took their hands off his eyes. It was Asuka. "What is my Shinji cooking?" she asked with a slight wave of seduction in her voice.

"Oh just some German sausages to go along with an original vegetable pasta recipe."

The thought of anything German would please Asuka. This was proven through the smile that came on the pretty girl's face. "Great! You'd better cook them well; otherwise take the risk of insulting all of Germany."

Shinji laughed. "Okay, I'll be sure to work extra hard on them."

Asuka took a moment to think as she sat at the table and watched her boyfriend/cook tend to dinner. 'He's changed so much since I first met him. I wish I wasn't so cruel to him when we first got acquainted. But I love him the way he is now. He would never have laughed before, he would have cowered before my unholy wrath,' she thought to herself.

Shinji suddenly spoke up. "It's ready Asuka. Call everyone else in."

Asuka did so, and Shinji set the table for the apartment's six occupants. Everyone then came in all excited about dinner. Shinji's cooking was by far the best.

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That night

Zack got onto his position on the couch. Everyone else had gone to bed, so he could have the TV room all to himself. Now was the night to use the parental code number Kaji had given him while he was in Australia.

'Mwahahahaha! It is time! Time to see what Japan has to offer… uncut!" He flicked to the channel he had wanted. He entered in the parental code. It accepted the code he had entered.

'So which channel should I watch,' he pondered to himself. 'Ah, that one," he decided.

So he began watching the forbidden material he had so desired to watch. After 30 minutes, he was disgusted.

'This stuff sucks! I can get better stuff at home!' He turned off the TV and went to sleep.

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Rei and Ivana's room

Rei did not have difficulty getting to sleep. However, as she was sleeping, somehow she ended up somewhere else.

"Where am I?" she said aloud. No one heard her. Suddenly, she heard a sound behind her. So by instinct she turned around to face whatever made the sound.

Once she turned around, she saw a large black silhouette in the darkness she was in. Somehow in an area of eternal darkness, the silhouette could be made out.

"I have seen this before," she said to herself. "It looks like an EVA. But what does it mean?"

Suddenly, she heard a voice. It sounded like a female's voice. It began a chant in a language that was unrecognizable to Rei. Once the chant was finished, a circle of fire appeared beneath the silhouette's feet. It grew until the circle could easily contain itself and Rei. A five point star was drawn inside the circle.

"It's the Seal of Diablos," she said. The symbol then appeared on the silhouette's head. Then the silhouette aimed a punch straight at Rei.

"Huh?" Rei looked around. She was back in her room, and she was sweating all over. "It was just a dream." As she was looking around to recollect her bearings, she saw Ivana sitting up on her futon.

"Are you okay?" the Russian asked.

"I am fine. It was just a dream," the albino girl replied.

"Are you sure? Tell me what you saw."

Rei proceeded to tell Ivana what she saw, the silhouette, the chant, the Seal, and then the attack.

"Hmm, that's interesting. But remember, it was just a dream, projected mostly from the thoughts in your subconscious. So just try to relax and go back to sleep."

"Alright," replied Rei. And with that, she began the return to the state of slumber.

A/N: Another short chapter. I'm low on steam because of university. But the next chapters I will try to make longer. Mana takes the other girls with her on some shopping fun, while an infiltrator tries to infiltrate NERV. The answer to Mana's hidden past is also revealed, or is it? And what is the mystery of Rei's dream? I plan to make this saga about 5-7 parts. And this will be different from the game Girlfriend of Steel though too. No connections, except for Mana of course. Until 26, be cool!


	26. Iron Maiden Part 3: Suspicions

A/N: Although I am out of steam, running away is for losers who can't complete their stories. I don't care how I finish it; all I know is that I will be bent on finishing this, even if it takes me a month to finish a chapter.

Someone asked me what kind of a name is Elly. Well, I needed a girl's name for a character. And that's what my brother suggested. Now on with the story!

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'Maybe she isn't so bad after all,' thought Asuka as she waited her turn in line. 'Perhaps Mana just wants to be Shinji's friend. Nah!'

Asuka, Rei, and Ivana went with Misato to pick up uniforms for high school. They would have cost Misato a fortune, but luckily it was all paid for by NERV. On the way there, they ran into Elly and Mana, who were also getting uniforms. Shinji, Zack, and Toji were in another part of the clothing getting uniforms as well. And as the girls talked, Mana seemed just like any other soon-to-be-high school student.

"Aren't you excited," Mana had asked Asuka.

"Not really. I've already done this. I'm a college graduate. I'm just there to keep an eye out for Shinji, because he needs all the protection he can get, and so the Section-2 agents can keep an eye out for us as well. Two of the employees in this store are undercover Section-2 agents," she replied with a smirk because of her intelligent answer.

"I see. Do they always watch out for us?"

"You bet, although I don't need any protection."

Mana had another question. "Is Shinji good to you?"

"Of course he is! Of course I'm better, but he's good enough for me."

"Okay," said Mana. "I understand what you and he think like now. Oh it's my turn to get fitted now." And with that, she went to her lineup.

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"Can't we use any NERV authority to get through the line?" Zack was a little frustrated at having to wait to get the uniforms. "Why don't we just order them instead?"

"Well, we'd have to go through the lineups eventually anyway," said Shinji. "The orders can be placed at the front of the line, and we don't have authority. Only Misato or perhaps my father would be the only ones who could do that."

"NERV is so weird," said Toji. "It's supposed to be so powerful, and yet it doesn't help out the pilots, who save its sorry ass whenever there's an attack."

"I know, but let's just sit tight for now. We'll be at the front of the line before we know it," said Zack.

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NERV HQ – Gendo Ikari's office

"Any news yet?" asked Fuyutski.

"Yes. We have an infiltrator in the NERV facility," said Gendo. "Although I don't know who the person is, I am sure it is not the alleged Eighth Child. It will not take long. I have Section-2 conducting an intense background check on everyone who is on the staff."

Fuyutski took this chance to speak. "I found this report saying that the Eighth Child could achieve a 50-sync ratio with the entry plug of Unit 07. It appears to be authentic."

"The only way to know for sure if it is authentic is to test her sync score. Schedule sync tests for all children immediately. We also have Unit 07's entry plug here so it will be programmed to meet our standards."

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NERV HQ – Military Archives

After a back-aching background check, Section-2 found three people that could be deemed as suspicious. One was the Eight Child, another was a janitor, and one was a technician who worked on the EVAs.

A quick reexamination cleared the janitor. Mana Kirishima's profile was looked at next. Indeed, she was home schooled like she said she was. She was born and lived in Hiroshima like she said. She had eaten 210 slices of pizza, so there was no way she could match Toji, who had eaten so far 439 slices of pizza. Her test score was 50, like the sync tests said. So there appeared to be nothing wrong. Just a surprise that she had come from out of nowhere.

The technician however, had all sorts of problems with his record. He had come on board not long before Mana Kirishima did. His approval signature that would come from Commander Ikari or Vice-Commander Fuyutski was clearly a forgery. A careless mistake that was then immediately reported to Commander Ikari.

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"So our infiltrator has been found."

"Yes," said Gendo. "But stay conscious of the Eighth Child's actions. She may be cleared from the background check, but we must continue to watch her to make sure. After the sync tests, bring the Seventh Child here to me."

"Understood," said Kozou.

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Ritsuko looked at the results that were being shown in front of her.

Rei Ayanami: 75

Shinji Ikari: 89

Asuka Sohryu: 81

Toji Suzahara: 59

Ivana Kharlamov: 78

Zack Harper: 73

Elly Simpson: 72

Mana Kirishima: 50

'Not bad,' she thought. She looked at Mana concentrating in Unit 07's entry plug. She was wearing a yellow plugsuit. Ritsuko obviously assumed that Unit 07 was also yellow. 'Apparently, she was just a come-from-out-of-nowhere pilot. I heard that she tried flirting with Shinji. And from what I have known about Auska, she had better watch out.'

Maya came in. "Doctor, the Commander's on the phone."

Without hesitation, she picked up the cordless phone.

Ritsuko: Yes.

Gendo: Are the tests done yet?

Ritsuko: They will be very shortly.

Gendo: Once the tests are done and the kids are all dressed, tell the Seventh Child I wish to see her in my office.

Ritsuko: Understood.

Gendo: Thank you.

He hung up the phone. Even Ritsuko was surprised by the "Thank you". Perhaps the Commander realized what an asshole he really was and is trying to redeem himself. 'But I will have a hard time forgiving him for what he did to my mother and me. But he will get his chance. Not giving him a chance will only make me as bad as he is.'

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NERV HQ – Gendo Ikari's Office

"You wanted to see me?" said Elly once she came into his office.

"Yes," replied the Commander. "I have a job for you."

"Well I think I'm still to young to be a stripper," she replied. "You would look like a pedophile."

"That is not why I called you."

"Then why did you call me? Did you catch wind of my cooking? The blokes in this place love my cooking. Almost as good as Shinji's from what they are saying."

"I trust you are somewhat aware of the mysteriousness of the Eighth Child Mana Kirishima," he said totally changing the subject.

"Yeah. She's flirting with Shinji. And no one does that but me!"

"What I am about to reveal to you cannot be revealed to anyone else. I have had knowledge of your capabilities since the Sixth Angel. The same goes with the Fifth and Sixth Child. I have only received knowledge of Kirishima only a week ago. Her profile checks out. However, there is an aura of suspicion around her. When she is in the NERV facility, I want you to keep a sharp eye on her, and report any suspicious activity."

"Yes sir," said Elly, also serious now.

"Good, you are dismissed."

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As Shinji was on his way out of NERV, he ran into Mana.

"Hey Shinji."

"Oh hi Kirishima."

"Oh you can call me Mana," she said with a smile. "I got a question for you."

"Go ahead," said Shinji.

"I heard Asuka used to treat you like the gum on a shoe. Why do you put up with her?" Mana asked.

"Uhh…"

"Is she abusive? Controlling?"

"N-N-No."

"It's okay Shinji. You can tell me. I'll be here for you."

Shinji took a step away from her. "I gotta get going home. Later!" He took off.

As Mana prepared to go on home, she almost ran smack into Rei Ayanami. "Ah Rei. What are you doing here? Don't you have to go home?"

"I saw what you did," said Rei in her monotone.

"Hey, I'm just concerned for his safety and well-being," said Mana in defense.

Rei looked fairly intimidating right now. "I will not let you drive a wedge between Shinji and Asuka."

Mana was a tad spooked. "Hey, what's got into you? You're not Shinji's girlfriend. Why are you protecting him like this?"

"That is none of your concern. If you break them apart, you will regret it." And with that, Rei began the stroll back to Shinji's apartment. Mana went back to her apartment while calling someone on her cell phone.

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A few days later

Zack was watching the news again. Apparently, someone had broken into the NERV base in Britain.

"Great. First a break in at Area 51, now there's a break-in in London." However, the news indicated that NERV claimed nothing was stolen.

"That's good to hear."

After learning that Scotland Yard was investigating on the attempted break-in, Zack turned on a comedy channel. But his mind was elsewhere. He remembered what Rei told him about Mana allegedly trying to drive a wedge between Shinji and Asuka. Nobody should mess with his best buddy, even if he was paired up with the worst girl possible in his opinion.

It was Asuka's turn to cook that night. So who knows what would be for dinner that night. Asuka knew what Mana tried to do to Shinji. 'Who does she think she is? Shinji's had enough problems as is. But then again, at least he didn't cheat or anything. Best of all, her sync score was low compared to everyone else. Asuka got so lost in her thought that she forgot about what she was supposed to be doing.

10 minutes later…

"At least I don't plan on serving it now!" said Asuka opening a window to ventilate the kitchen.

"Yeah, but you could have paid attention to what you're doing," said Zack. He had noticed the smoke coming from the kitchen. He had gotten out the fire extinguisher and put out the flames while Asuka was choking on the smoke. "Oh well, I guess it's pizza tonight."

45 minutes later

"You were 10 minutes late! And that means our pizzas are free!" Zack was trying to use the restaurant's delivery policy to get the food he ordered for free. But it seemed to go right over his head.

"That policy is just a saying. Tell ya what, half-price," said the delivery man.

"TELL YA WHAT, BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!" shouted Zack. He sounded like Asuka with the temper he was throwing. "I'm calling NERV. They WILL run you and your shit business out if business."

"Okay, okay. It's free! Take it!"

Zack calmed down. "Thank you. And I hope you are willing to follow your restaurant policies in the near future." He took the pizzas and shut the door.

As he brought the pizzas in, he called out to the others that the pizza was here to cover up for Asuka's accident in the kitchen. And everyone helped themselves.

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Elly was lonely. Commander Ikari barely let her leave the facility. 'Hell it was only one time I stole the tank. And look, I'm an EVA pilot saving their sorry asses. I think I deserve redemption.'

Suddenly, she heard a noise. She saw a shadow appear and then disappear. As she poked her head around the corner, she noticed it was Mana walking deeper into the NERV facility. 'Awesome! Redemption here I come!'

So, while keeping a close distance behind, she watched Mana walk into a women's bathroom stall. Elly quickly threw on a janitor's disguise and pretended to be a female janitor. If Elly was good at another thing, she was a master of disguise. She was able to fool Commander Von Croy with a disguise she once wore. Once he found out though, she had to run a mile once a day for a week.

Elly could hear Mana pluck a cell phone out of her purse while she cleaned the sinks.

"Hello," said Mana into the phone. "Hi Daddy. I'm in NERV right now." A pause. "Yeah, I heard about what happened in the United States. It's horrible." A slightly longer pause while Mana listens. "What? Something happened in Britain too? Okay. I'll be sure to be extra careful. Bye-bye!" Elly heard a beep come from the phone. Mana had hung up and was on her way out of the stall when she saw Elly disguised as a janitor. "Oh I didn't know you were in here."

"Sorry Miss," said Elly in a disguised voice. "Commander's orders. Gotta clean, clean, clean."

"That's okay. I was just calling my daddy," replied Mana. "I miss him a lot."

"I know what it's like to leave home," said "the janitor". "You're lonely for a while, but always remember home is where the heart is."

Mana gave the janitor/Elly a smile. "Thanks. Gotta go." Mana quickly darted out and went back in the opposite direction. Elly pulled out her own cell phone and dialed a number.

After a few rings, a man answered. "Yes." It was Commander Ikari.

"Coral here," said Elly using her code name. "The Eighth Child went into the bathroom to make a call."

"I see," replied Gendo. "Do you know who she called?"

"Apparently, she called her father. They spoke very briefly for a father-daughter relationship. They talked about the incidents in America and Britain."

"I see. Keep your eye on her Coral." The phone clicked.

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"That's strange," said Kozou. "Why would she make a brief talk with her father about a break-in and an alleged break in?"

"The alleged break-in was a lie to avoid frightening the public," replied Gendo. "Also, the person on her line was not her father."

"How do you know that?"

"Call it a father's hunch."

"Then was stolen from NERV in Britain?" asked Kozou with a bit of fear in his voice.

"In America, what was stolen was a prototype fusion energy reactor. And in Britain, Unit 07 was stolen."


	27. Iron Maiden Part 4: Crisis

A/N: Well I've been getting lots of reviews for the Iron Maiden Saga. Once it is over, I'll return to the Black Angel crisis. So here's the news. We just found out that someone has stolen a prototype fusion reactor from Area 51 in America. And someone has also SOMEHOW ripped off Evangelion Unit 07 from NERV in London. And Mana has someone named Elly Simpson watching her like a hawk. Why is she still seen as suspicious? Hopefully this cloud of mystery will soon disappear. On the story!

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Asuka was in a very bad mood. Mana had tried once more to drive a wedge between her and Shinji. Asuka remembered the events of yesterday as if Shinji was able to recite his entire conversation with Mana. Asuka knew not to be angry with Shinji. Mana was poisoning his mind with "bullshit soup".  
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Flashback: Yesterday

Shinji was out shopping for Misato. Apparently Zack couldn't go with him because he had been forcefully removed from this store once. He was on his way home with the groceries when he had run into Mana again. "Oh hi Mana," he had said.

"Hi there Shinjikins," she replied. "Wow. You're shopping. Is Misato too lazy to do it herself?"

"Ah yeah, that's it. Too lazy I guess."

Mana had a question for Shinji. "Last time I tried to talk to you, you ran off. Can you not run off this time?"

"Uh okay," said Shinji.

"I've been watching you and Asuka. Don't you think you deserve better than that?"

Shinji didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"Hey, I get around quite a bit. You're pretty famous for killing all those Angels. And I know how Asuka treated you. She was as bad as the Angels were and the Black Angels too."

"Yeah but she's changed a lot."

"But don't you think she could be acting so you're always in her grasp? Look at the 17th Angel for example. He was also your friend but he ended up using you. Don't you think Asuka could be using you too? To satisfy all her needs."

"I don't think Asuka would do that. She was angry. She was traumatized by something that happened to her when she was a child. She's been angry and afraid to be lonely…"

"And that's why she's using you. So she always has a security blanket. You deserve someone who won't do that to you. I gotta go home and eat. You know where to go when you tell her you've had it with being used."

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Shinji had come home and talked with Asuka about what Mana had said. 'Who was she to come trampling into our lives like that?' she said to herself as she walked around aimlessly. Getting to sleep that night was difficult as Shinji wasn't as warm as he used to be. He now looked tired and always with something on his mind.

While Asuka went to the park, she saw Mana on her cell phone. Mana saw Asuka and quickly hung up. "So, what brings you out here?" Mana asked innocently.

"You sure as hell know why I'm out here you manipulating bitch!" Asuka shouted.

"Ah, I see why you are angry. Because I'm exposing Shinji to the truth. Face it Asuka, you have no business being with him after all the things you have done. Slapping him, scorning him, abusing him, and now you cling to him like a child clings to his blanket."

"Why are you poisoning his mind with that shit?" asked Asuka.

"Can't you see?" started Mana. "He needs someone who will love him and treat him the way he should be. And from what I've heard about you, you in no way fit the bill."

"Look, I've changed. Shinji sees the change in me too."

"Yeah sure. You changed so he would actually kiss you. You're just a sick whore. It's only a matter of time before you get it on with him every night. You're pathetic. One of these days he'll just leave because he's had enough of you."

"Asuka was really mad. Listen you mahogany-headed bitch! If you go near Shinji again you will regret it!" And with that she stormed off toward Misato's apartment.

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Shinji was busy cooking dinner. Everyone else had gone out and left him behind so he could make one of his awesome dinners with no one to distract him, so said Misato. Asuka was out for a walk and could be back anytime. "Don't get too distracted from cooking when she comes back now," she said with a teasing gesture as she left with the others.

While he was cooking he thought about Mana. She was a good friend, he assumed. But why was she so concerned about him? Sure he and Asuka did not have the greatest of beginnings, but things between them were great now.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. So by instinct he would go to answer the door. It was Asuka at the door. His next instinct let her in. She had her head bowed down. "Asuka?" he asked confused.

Asuka was still for a second, and then suddenly threw her arms around Shinji. Shinji could tell she was crying. Shinji wrapped his arms around her and just held her there for a minute.

Shinji led Asuka into the kitchen where he could get her something and he could check on the curry dish he was cooking. But Asuka wouldn't let go of him. "Something wrong Asuka?" he asked.

"Shinji. Do you think I use you for my own purposes?"

"No. I don't think that at all. What makes you think that?"

"Mana said I use you."

Shinji smiled. "Don't worry about it. She's wrong."

Asuka looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes. "You'd never leave me?"

Shinji realized that he would have to reassure her again. "I said I would never leave you."

Asuka seemed to cheer up from that remark because she stopped crying and hugged him again. "Thank you Shinji! Thank you!" She pulled back and gave him a soft and tender kiss.

Once they broke apart, Shinji went back to his cooking and Asuka went into the TV room to watch the news. Shinji tasted it. 'Ah, just perfect,' he thought. After turning down low enough to keep the food warm, he went into the TV room with Asuka. They both sat down on the couch. They were just in time for the six o'clock news, with news anchor Carl Reevers.

"And now it's Caaarrrrrrrrlll Reeeeverrrrrrs!" said the announcement. The news anchor could be seen on the TV.

"Good evening Tokyo-3. We have some big news this hour. There was a bombing today at a military base in Berlin, Germany."

"What? Mein gott!" shouted Asuka.

"No weapons of mass destruction were stolen, but NERV technology was stolen according to an official we spoke with.

Official: It was a bombing, then a military style raid on the German NERV headquarters. Then a bunch of enemies infiltrated the base. The came and swiped some of our equipment that we were planning to send to NERV in Japan. What kind of equipment they stole is classified. They took it with one of their large helicopters. The German Secret Service is currently investigating.

"How could they break into a NERV base?" said Asuka in disbelief. "You would need an entire army to get in because they were so heavily guarded."

"Well when NERV was invaded during 3rd Impact they got in easily because we weren't heavily prepared for a human invasion. I doubt they would be expecting an invasion at all."

The news anchor continued to report on other matters such as politics and sports while Shinji and Asuka just took comfort in the warmth the other would provide.

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Gendo Ikari's Office

"This is very disturbing news," said Gendo.

"All that the Seventh Child can report is that the Eighth Child made another phone call after the event was broadcasted on the news," said Kozou.

"This time, prototype plasma cannon was stolen," said Gendo. "This is troubling. Whoever is behind these thefts must be stopped as soon as possible."

"Who do you think is behind these thefts?"

"I don't know. But whoever is stealing EVA based technology must be someone who knows quite a bit about Evangelions. It could be SEELE or a SEELE affiliated group."

"But they would need a potential pilot who has had training."

"Exactly," said Gendo. "This is why Mana is a prime suspect. She has been trained. If someone wanted to attack us with an EVA, they would want to use a pilot who has the potential to defeat all of our pilots."

"It would take more than advanced technology to defeat seven EVAs as easily as our enemy plans to," said Fuyutski.

"Obviously. So our enemy has another factor that may give them the edge that they think will give them the win."

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Later that evening.

Elly was REALLY bored. So she decided to call Misato's place to flirt with Shinji and Zack. She wanted to flirt with Shinji for kicks and flirt with Zack as a bonus. After a few rings, Asuka answered. "Katsuragi residence."

"Hi Asuka," said Elly. "Is Shinji there?" she asked with a very seductive voice.

Asuka just blew her top. "WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM DOWN-UNDER GIRL? I've got enough problems with Mahogany Head and her trying to brainwash Shinji."

Now Elly was shocked. "What? Mana is still flirting with Shinji. Hold on Asuka, I'll be right over."

"Huh?" Click! Asuka guessed Elly had hung up. 'What? Did Elly say she was coming over? Well at least Down-Under Girl and I share a common enemy in that mahogany-headed whore!'

10 minutes later, Elly arrived at the apartment. "Hi. We need to talk," she said dragging Asuka into her room.

"What do we need to talk about?" asked Asuka.

"Nobody but me is allowed to flirt with Shinji! We need to dig some dirt on this bitch to get back at her," said Elly in a dark voice. "And I know who can help us."

"Who?"

"Trust me! I know a guy who can't resist a pretty girl and a girl who can't turn down a challenge."

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"So let me get this straight, you want me to break into Mana's apartment and find some dirt on her? Are you nuts?" Zack was obviously shocked by the magnitude of Asuka and Elly's request.

"Yeah. Can't you do that? You are an RCMP agent aren't you?" said Asuka.

"Yeah, I'm trained for that sort of thing, but I've never been on a mission. I don't know if I can do it."

Elly moved towards Zack. "Then let this be your motivation." She then gave Zack a quick but soft kiss.

Zack had a new wave of confidence come over him. "I think I can do it Elly, but for the mission to be a guaranteed success, I'll need a second person."

"Then I'll be your second person." Ivana stepped into the room.

"You sure Ivana?" asked Elly. "It could be dangerous."

"I'm better than he is. It will be easy with the both of us."

Zack was ready to go. "All right! Let's rock and roll!"

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The plan would go like this. Elly would call Mana down to NERV for a friendly chat. While Zack and Ivana would sneak into her apartment and find out anything they could about her.

Zack and Ivana were wearing black jumpsuits, with black gloves, and headgear to conceal their faces and waited in the bushes outside Mana's apartment complex.

"Once Elly gives us the signal, we can enter," said Ivana. "We'll climb up with a piton gun."

Zack and Ivana looked in the direction of NERV. They watched Mana walk out of the apartment complex humming a song. She was humming the song Crawling by Linkin Park.

A/N: I own nothing from Linkin Park. Leave me alone you crazy lawsuit people!

Suddenly, a beacon at NERV flashed. "That's the signal," said Ivana. "Let's go."

The two aimed piton guns up so they would land on Mana's balcony. And with that they did. Ivana pulled a gadget from her pack. It was a glass cutter. She began to cut through the glass with ease. After she cut a big enough circle for them both to fit, they removed the cut window and let themselves in.

Her apartment was empty almost. It looked like Rei's apartment before it burned down. There was a bed, a dresser, a refrigerator, and a desk. Ivana checked the desk while Zack stayed by the door to be a lookout.

Apparently, Mana had a laptop, which Ivana booted up. She stuck a memory stick into it to copy all the data on the computer onto the memory stick. "It will take a few minutes," whispered Ivana.

"Okay," whispered Zack.

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Commander Ikari's Office

"Good. The Seventh Child has the Eighth distracted while the Fifth and Sixth are searching her apartment." Gendo Ikari was pleased with what was going on.

Vice-Commander Fuyutski came into the room. "Gendo, we have another break-in."

"Where?"

"NERV Branch in Moscow Russia. This time, heavy armour platings were stolen."

"Do we know who yet?"

"No we don't. SEELE is the prime suspects, but we can't prove anything. Hopefully whatever Harper and Kharlamov find will be useful to solving this mystery.

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Once Ivana finished copying the data from Mana's laptop, she shut it down and motioned for Zack that it was time to leave. A quick 8 minute run and they were back at Misato's apartment.

Misato was surprised at first, but then understood what they were doing once they explained the situation and let them use her laptop to install the data. It didn't take long as Misato had a top of the line computer.

They checked all of the programs, but they came across nothing. But one program stuck out. It was one called Project Devastator.

Zack tried to decipher it as it was written in computer code. "Damn I can't decipher it."

"So what will we do?" asked Misato.

Zack whipped out his phone. "I'm calling the RCMP. I got contacts there that can figger this stuff out."

Ivana took out her phone. "I will call the KGB. They can also help."

Zack got an answer. "Hey. It's Donut. Yeah I'm doing good. Listen, I got a program I need deciphered. I'm sending you the data. Decipher it and send it back in English and Japanese. Thanks."

"Von Wolfen here. I have a program here. I need you to find out where it originated. Thanks."

A/N: Von Wolfen is Ivana's code name. Donut is Zack's code name.

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"We have an international crisis here," said Gendo.

"What is the update?" asked Kozou

"I have been in contact with the governments of Canada, America, Germany, Britain, Russia, and Japan. They are now involved. On top of that, we just discovered that there were more insiders in NERV. And they made off with Unit 07's entry plug. We need to find out what is on that computer."

"But now they have everything they need to activate an EVA," said Kozou.

"Where is the Eighth Child?"

"She left not long ago."

"Find her immediately!"

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An hour later, Zack got a contact from the RCMP. They sent the data completely deciphered.

Zack looked it up. The data he got shocked him. There were profiles on all major NERV staff members, and EVA pilots. It showed the blueprints of Unit 07, and a strange sentence.

When the sun rises, go across the great blue, to where the eagle spreads his wings. Now travel to where the lion reigns supreme. Next, to the land where the falcon tried to conquer. To the land of the bear is next. Return to the land where the sun will fall and darkness will rise.

"What does it mean?"

A/N: Scary! Take your guesses on what happens next. Until then, be cool!


	28. Iron Maiden Part 5: Ivana, Zack vs Mana

A/N: I'm not wasting any time! We have to solve the meaning of that paragraph! On with it!

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Misato got a call. "Hello. Commander?" A pause. "Yeah, we know what's going on!" A longer pause. "You installed spyware on my computer?" A pause. "I understand. So you'll be in touch. I'll switch over to speakerphone."

Ivana got a call. Whoever she was speaking to, she was speaking in Russian. After a few moments, she hung up. "They know where this program originated."

"Where?" asked Zack.

"Here in Japan," replied Ivana.

"That would explain the rising sun," said Gendo.

"But then it says go across the great blue," said Zack.

"Could be an ocean. We're on the Pacific Coast," said Misato. "It makes sense."

"To the land where the eagle spreads his wings. Hey a'int that the United States?" asked Zack.

"That would make sense," said Kozou. "The eagle is the animal that represents America."

Gendo spoke up. "The lion symbolizes Britain."

Misato then spoke up. "Hey, the falcon represents Germany. I remember Asuka telling me that."

"That would make sense," said Zack. "Germany did try to conquer Europe. TWICE."

"The bear symbolizes Russia," said Ivana.

Kozou realized something. "I get it. It's a map, or an order. The symbols are in the same order as the thefts that have been happening. First the theft in America, then Britain, then Germany, Russia, and now here."

"Where the darkness will rise. This means that someone will attack us using all the weaponry they have stolen. It will likely be equipped on the stolen Unit 07," said Gendo. "This also proves Mana's involvement in this ordeal. She knew it was going to happen before it happened."

"Where are the other kids?" asked Kozou.

"Oh they went out," said Misato. "Why are they in danger?"

"Potentially," said Gendo. "If she could avoid it, she will likely try to eliminate as many obstacles in her way as possible. I'm giving the order to have the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Seventh Child to be placed in NERV's protective custody until Mana Kirishima is hunted down and either arrested or killed.

"What about Zack and Ivana?" asked Misato.

"I have another purpose for them," said Gendo. "They will hunt down Mana. Mana is likely aware that her cover is blown. If she sees a Section-2 agent, the outcome cannot be predicted. She won't be able to guess that the Fifth and Sixth will try to apprehend her."

"Cool," said Zack. "We're gonna get Mana!"

"Now listen carefully," said Gendo. "She is likely to be extremely dangerous. You have my authorization to do whatever it takes to have her dealt with. You may even blow up a building if necessary. You may have anyone arrested arbitrarily if they are uncooperative. The city is already in lockdown and on First Stage Alert. However, the citizens have not been ordered into shelters yet. You will each have six Section-2 agents who are at your beck and call."

"And if we are unable to capture or kill her?" Zack asked.

"Then return to NERV immediately and prepare for EVA combat. The other children will be let out of custody and will be prepared for battle against Unit 07. Good luck you two."

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"This sucks!" Asuka was not happy about having Section-2 agents have her, Shinji, and Rei taken into custody.

"They said it was for our protection," said Rei. "NERV only wants to make sure we are safe."

"Yeah," said Shinji. "But where's Zack and Ivana?"

"Who knows," replied Toji. He was also taken into custody. "Hopefully we'll still get 3 meals a day."

"Is this what I deserve?" asked Elly. "She planned to go for a swim in the NERV swimming pool after talking to Mana, or rather distracting her. She was in her two piece bathing suit when she was taken into custody. "It's freezing in here!"

"And where's that Mana girl?" asked Toji. "Is she missing too?"

"There's a lot we need to find out," said Asuka. "We can ask the guards when they bring our food."

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As Zack and Ivana were about to leave, another piece of data was sent. It was from the RCMP. As it came on screen, they were shocked by what they saw. It was an image of Unit 07. Then there was another image of Unit 07, but this time, it had all the stolen equipment on it plus other equipment.

Then the RCMP sent another piece of data that was impossible to decipher. Gendo used his spyware to look at it. "It's already been deciphered," he said. "But it's in another language unfamiliar to us."

"Can't we translate it?" asked Misato.

"I will use the MAGI to translate this. This phrase is in an ancient language. I will need a few minutes for the MAGI to figure this out." A few minutes passed. "The MAGI have translated the phrase.

Ancient forces of the Diablos, I humbly call amongst thee to grant me your power. I cast my soul into your presence, and I am imbued with your infinite power. Now I conjure the Seal of Diablos.

"That's chant those terrorists were using to use that freaky seal!" said Zack.

"Yes. If Mana knows the chant, she is likely to be very dangerous if she is allowed to escape," said Ivana. "Come Zack, we must leave immediately."

It was already 10:00pm. People were shocked by the order to have the city locked down, but no orders given to go to the shelters. The local police had also been notified by NERV to find a 14-year old girl named Mana Kirishima as she was wanted by NERV for theft over $5,000, theft of NERV property. To be arrested on sight, and if met with resistance, she is to be executed.

Zack and Ivana covered different parts of the city. They asked some people. Some didn't know what was going on, some chose to be uncooperative and were arrested for aid and abet. Some recognized the girl with mahogany coloured hair, but hadn't seen her as of recent. Zack got a call on his cell.

"Hello."

"Donut, it's Von Wolfen. I have a lead."

"Where is the bitch then?"

"She's at the train station. Meet you outside." She hung up.

Zack turned to his Section-2 agents. "All right men, new order. We're going to the train station. Let's move!" Zack got on his NERV issued motorcycle and the agents got in their van. They sped off for the Tokyo-3 station. Obviously Mana was planning on using the train to escape.

Within five minutes Zack's squad arrived where Ivana's was waiting. They motioned for the agents to create a perimeter around the building and to stay quiet. Zack and Ivana peeked inside the window. There she was, standing there waiting for her train to arrive. Zack put a call into NERV.

"Yes," said Gendo.

"Commander. We've located the target at the train station. We need you to stop all trains from entering or leaving that station."

"It will be done. Now apprehend her." He hung up.

"Zack," said Ivana. "You go through the back door. I will go through the front door. You ready?"

"Yeah. Let's do this." They both took out their 9mm handguns. Ivana waited for Zack as he was going to come through the back and she would be surrounded. Ivana's cell then rang.

"I'm in position." Zack hung up.

Ivana then calmly walked through the door to the station. She went straight towards Mana.

Mana saw Ivana as she walked towards her. "Hi Ivana. My dad's coming to visit me. That's why I'm here so late. What brings you here?"

Ivana then pointed her gun at Mana. Mana was shocked. "Ivana? What's going on?"

Ivana had an innocent smile on her face. "Oh I just want to ask you something Mana."

"Exactly what is Project Devastator?" Zack came in from behind also pointing a gun at Mana. Everyone else got scared and stepped back while this event unfolded.

Mana now had a sinister smile on her face. "So you finally figured it out. I'm a SEELE operative. Code named: Iron Maiden."

"So what do you plan to do with Unit 07?" asked Ivana.

"Simple. Get all the equipment needed, then use Unit 07 to single-handedly wipe out NERV," said Mana.

"But why?" asked Zack.

"SEELE wanted to stop Commander Ikari from initiating his version of 3rd Impact and establish their own version, which would have been great for all mankind. But that plan was stopped. Then we met new people who would help us if we submitted to them."

"Loonies that use twisted magic?" asked Zack again.

"It's not twisted. Whenever a human loses, their mind becomes merged into my master's masterpiece. Their souls become merged into one entity. They go to a place with no AT Fields, no pain, no misery. This is the reason for SEELE's new purpose. And to be able to do that, you guys have to be eliminated."

"How do you call that ideal when you have caused harm to innocent people?" asked Zack again.

"Pathetic humans, don't tell me what's right and what's wrong! Your purpose is WRONG!" shouted Mana.

Suddenly, she kicked Ivana's gun right out of her hand. As she did, it went off, making everyone flinch. Then she kicked Zack's gun, he also losing his grip on it.

"Let's take her apart Ivana!"

"Literally," she replied.

And so began a two-on-one hand-to-hand combat battle. Zack and Ivana thought they could both take down Mana with ease. They were wrong. Zack attacked first with punch, kick, trip combination. She blocked the punches, jumped over the trip and as she jumped, kicked him in the face, send him sprawling.

Now it was Ivana's turn. She used her Russian Commando Martial Arts. But Mana was too fast. She quickly got behind Ivana and struck her in the back of the head, knocking the Russian powerhouse down.

By this time, Zack was back on his feet, this time. Mana used some dangerous moves on him. But Zack's self taught style saved him as he was able to sway out of the way of her dangerous assaults. He czaught her off guard for a second with a faked kick. He punched her in the face and kicked her in the stomach, forcing Mana to backpedal.

By now, Ivana was back on her feet. "Let's take her together," she said.

"Go," he said.

'Guess I'll have to take this up a notch,' thought Mana to herself. Now both of them were attacking her. As she blocked both of their dangerous assaults, Mana did the unthinkable. She quickly assumed a handstand position, then began twirling around on her hands. She also did the splits with her legs. Now Zack and Ivana had to face of wheel of dangerous kicks.

After forcing them both to move back, she got back on her feet. "I'll bet you two underestimated me," she said proud with her results so far.

"This is far from over Kirishima," said Ivana confidently.

"Like she said," said Zack. "You're not leaving this place alive Mana."

"I can say the same for you," replied Mana. "I've been trained in many different styles of martial arts. My skills outmatch both of yours."

"Playtime is over Mana," said Zack. Zack took something out of his pocket. He had brass knuckles. Ivana also took out brass knuckles.

"Hmm. Will this get interesting now?" asked Mana.

Ivana attacked first. She then ran behind Mana. Zack attacked her front from the front. As Zack had Mana distracted, Ivana then tried to grab Mana and crush her with a bearhug. But Mana seemed to sense this and she grabbed Zack, sidestepped out of the way and threw him into Ivana.

"Oww, what's your head made of Ivana?" asked Zack rubbing his head.

"Hahahaha. One bop and you're both down. That's using your heads people."

Both EVA pilots got back up. "Let's end this," said Ivana. They rushed her. Mana was caught off guard and was kicked in the stomach by both of them, then using an opened fist, they sent her flying into some waiting chairs.

Mana was slow to get up as the attacks obviously hit home. She laughed then. "I'd love to keep fighting with you, but my ride is here."

"What?" said a shocked Ivana.

Suddenly, an SUV came crashing through the back door of the train station. Mana jumped in the passenger's seat and the SUV drove through the front, barely missing hitting the EVA pilots.

Ivana then whipped out her cell phone and made a call to Commander Ikari. She told him Mana escaped in a black SUV and was heading south. Zack and Ivana were told to return to headquarters.

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"Kirishima has broken through our roadblock," said Kozou ten minutes later.

"Go to Second Stage Alert. Order all civilians into the shelters. Tell the children to suit up as we are going to be attacked soon."

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NERV HQ – Holding cell.

It was getting boring waiting in that holding cell. Suddenly the guard spoke up. "You kids have a visitor."

The door opened. It was Misato. She got right to the point. "Kids, we are on Second Stage Alert. We're going to be attacked soon."

"By who?" asked Elly.

"Another EVA. Evangelion Unit 07."

"The news said nothing was stolen in Britain," said Asuka.

"That was a lie to avoid panic amongst the public."

Shinji was frightened. "Misato, if we're going to be attacked by an EVA, then there's a kid piloting it. Please tell me Misato, who is piloting Unit 07 to attack us."

Misato remembered what happened last time when Toji got hurt and Shinji found out the hard way about the identity of Unit 03's pilot. "Okay Shinji, I'm not going to lie to you. The pilot of Evangelion Unit 07 is…"

Shinji looked on in horror as Misato revealed the identity of the pilot.

"…Mana Kirishima."


	29. Iron Maiden Part 6: Darkness arises

A/N: Here we go! The battle against Mana Kirishima is in this chapter!

Shinji could not believe what he had heard. Mana, someone he thought who could be a good friend, was actually their enemy. An agent of darkness. A backstabber. And at anytime, she would bring Unit 07 to Tokyo-3 and try to kill them all.

Rei now knew Mana's treachery inside and out. And she had tried again to break Shinji and Asuka apart. Rei promised to herself that if Mana made her presence known again in this city, she would regret her actions as Rei promised she would.

Asuka was in a way glad that Mana was one of the bad guys. Now she had an adequate excuse to pummel the living hell out of her. But at the same time, she felt bad for Shinji because she knew Shinji hated to fight other children.

Toji didn't know Mana that well, but he felt bad at being betrayed by one of their own.

Elly was glad. She got visions of impaling Mana with a spear or bonking her on the head with an oversized hammer.

"I'm sorry Shinji," said Misato. "Mana tricked us all. As much as you may not want to believe it, she is NOT your friend."

"I know," replied Shinji. "It's just that… why though? I don't want to have to kill a kid my age."

Asuka tried to cheer him up and talk some sense into him. "Look Shinji. She doesn't give a damn about you at all. She used us all for her own personal gain. And now she'll come soon to try and kill us all. It's either her, or us."

Rei tried to talk sense into him as well. "You may have to kill Mana if the situation calls for it. But she can be beaten into submission. If she realizes she is beaten, she may surrender. We can always hope for that."

"Yeah, okay, but it still doesn't feel right though."

Just then, Zack and Ivana came into the holding cell where Misato was briefing the kids. Ivana was holding an icepack to the back of her head, and Zack had a bandage wrapped around his head.

"Good God, what the hell happened to you two?" ask Misato.

Zack spoke up. "To be blunt, we got beaten up."

"She was much better than either of us predicted," said Ivana. "An attack on this city of Mana is imminent."

"Are you two okay for battle?" asked Misato.

"The first thing we did was see Dr. Akagi," replied Ivana. "We were both medically cleared to pilot but we were told to be careful."

"Okay kids, PREPARE FOR COMBAT! SUIT UP!" said Misato.  
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Gendo Ikari's Office

Gendo had been informed of the recent events. The Fifth and Sixth Children were unable to apprehend the Eighth. She was much more efficient than she appeared to be. 'It's amazing to know what hides behind a docile look.' He thought to himself. He checked the primary and secondary sensors around the city. No signs of anything yet. He had been in contact with the governments directly involved. They were ready to send military equipment if needed to.

He looked over the data once more that he had on Unit 07. He knew it could easily take out an EVA one-on-one easily. But with the large weaponry it had, he decided the best way would be for the EVAs to attack it two at a time. Units 04 and 00 would go first, followed by Units 03 and 05, then Units 02 and 06. That left Shinji in Unit 01 by himself, being the lone X-factor that Gendo based their hopes of success on. 'But would Shinji have the guts and the courage to go through what would likely be a horrible ordeal?' Gendo knew that only time would tell that story. And that story would be told soon.

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NERV HQ – Battle station

All the pilots were frozen in suspended animation again, just like when Zack fought the terrorist in space. This time, they would all be thawed out when Unit 07 was detected on the tertiary sensors.

Misato could only lie down on the cot provided by NERV and wait. This situation was way too tense. She tried to get some sleep, but she couldn't even get a wink of shut eye. To make the matter even worse, she wasn't allowed to drink beer while in the base either. She could only hope that God or some other supreme being would watch over her children as they were about to fight a battle that no one should have had to fight.

It had almost been an entire day. The civilians were getting frustrated from having to sit in the shelters for so long. But they were told that the city was on Second Stage Alert, so they would have to sit tight.

It was 8:00pm. The sun had just set. It was getting dark. A thunderstorm had also started. She had to settle with a coffee. She hated this, having to sit and wait for an enemy to come and try to destroy you. She just wanted this to be over with.

Suddenly, the tertiary sensor picked up something. This got the whole tech crew in action.

"It's big whatever it is," said Makoto.

"It's coming this way," said Shigeru.

"She's here," said Misato. 'This is it…'

Gendo Ikari was sitting at his observation post. "Wake up the children."

"Understood," said Maya. "Warming up LCL now."

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NERV HQ – Launching Bay

The kids had been unfrozen and were ready to sent into action. Gendo Ikari took to the com. "Because this Unit is meant to fight multiple units at a time, we will send up two of you at a time. The first two pilots are Ayanami and Kharlamov.

In a minute, Units 00 and 04 were launched to the surface. They took positions outside the city. They couldn't see it, but from the footsteps, they knew it was coming. Ivana had a double bladed progressive sword for up-close combat, and Rei had the positron rifle, ready to snipe it from a distance.

There it was. Unit 07, slowly advancing as it moved closer and closer to them. Suddenly a com was opened up. It was Mana. "So this is my welcoming party. You had better make this interesting for me."

Ivana spoke next. "Kirishima, the people you work for are agents of darkness. Turn away from them. We do not have to fight."

Rei spoke next. "If you attack, you leave us no choice."

"Then come get me!" the mahogany headed girl said with a sneer.

The units just stood there in a standoff for about 15 seconds.

BOOM! Rei fired the rifle, the attack striking dead on. In the confusion, Ivana jumped in the air, preparing to take down Mana with one slash of her sword. She heard and felt her sword clash with something. As the smoke cleared, Ivana found out Mana had drawn two swords of her own and used them to block the blow. No damage apparently from the rifle shot.

"Let's do this Mana," said Ivana.

"Bring it on bitch," said Mana.

The two began their clash. Mana and Ivana seemed very well matched in their skills with a sword. Rei waited patiently for another chance to fire a shot at Mana.

After about a minute, the two EVAs appeared to be getting nowhere in their clash. However, Ivana had a plan. After blocking the last attack from Mana, she began to twirl her sword, throwing off Mana's concentration and knocking the sword out of her left hand.

"Good. So you're better in an EVA than you were at the train station," said Mana. She raised her remaining sword. "Let's continue."

Rei took this chance and fired again. Another direct hit! It didn't dent her armour, but the force of the shot was able to push Mana back a bit. Now Mana realized that she would have to deal with Rei to be able to take out Ivana.

Ivana attacked again. This time Mana jumped in the air over Unit 04. As she did a flip in the air, she used her left arm to point at Unit 00…

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"We're getting a high energy output from the target's left arm!" said Shigeru.

"It's that plasma cannon!" said Makoto.

"Watch out Rei!" shouted Misato.

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Rei barely saw it in time. She had to abandon her sniping position and the rifle to avoid being hit head on by the cannon. While dodging the attack, she wasn't able to dodge the explosion that sent Unit 00 flying and rattled Rei up quite a bit.

"Rei? Are you alright?" asked Misato.

"Yes. I am okay," replied Rei.

"Good. Ivana needs your help. Here's a sword for you." An equipment cache opens up with a progressive sword. Rei takes it and goes after Unit 07.

Both EVAs were attacking Mana, but she was still able to hold them off. Suddenly, she backpedaled, and the unthinkable happened. She pulled out another plasma cannon with her right arm. With a cannon in each hand, she fired at the unsuspecting pilots. The EVAs were sent flying and they crashed to the ground.

"Hahaha. I told you both that you were no match for me!"

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"Units 00 and 04 were hit very hard. They can't continue at this rate!" said Maya.

"Send up Units 03 and 05," said the Commander.

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"All right! Now it's our turn!" Zack was pumped at the chance to rematch Mana.

"Yeah! Let's get her!" said Toji.

Units 03 and 05 were launched out to the battlefield. They saw their comrades out for the count off to the sides.

Mana opened up a com to them as well. "Well, I hope you boys will be a better fight than those two were. I haven't even broken a sweat yet."

"The only thing I'm gonna break is you," said Zack. "I don't care how powerful you are. You're going down!"

"There's more to fighting than just power!" said Toji.

"Enough talk! Time to fight!" said Unit 07's pilot.

And so Round 2 began. Toji this time went with a missile launcher while Zack chose two progressive swords. Mana disarmed both her plasma cannons and went with her progressive swords as well.

Toji watched as his friend clashed with his enemy. He held the launcher in place. He waited for Mana to push Zack back or when he found a point where he could get a clean shot and Zack would know to move away.

As Zack clashed with Mana, he knew what Toji was going to do. So he took a chance. Once Mana blocked his attack again, he pushed her using all the strength he had. Mana did not expect this and stumbled back a few steps.

Toji saw his chance and fired the missile launcher. As Zack moved away, the missile hit its intended target. Once the missile hit, Zack charged back in to finish the job. As he went to stab the yellow behemoth, a large beam of energy shot out of the smoke and hit Zack directly. Unit 05 was sent flying and crashed into a mountain.

"Zack! Are you okay?" asked Toji.

Unit 05 slowly made its way back to its feet. Zack then responded. "Yeah, I'm fine. That sure didn't tickle though. Ouch! That smarts!"

Toji then fired off more missiles. Unit 07 walked through the missiles completely unharmed at all, its plasma cannon ready to fire again. Not knowing what else to do, Toji charged at Mana. Mana in response fired her cannon again, but Toji dodged it somehow.

Even Mana couldn't defend against the shoulder charge Toji delivered. Mana crashed into the ground. But she quickly rose to her feet.

"Not bad. I guess this means I'll stop toying with you."

Toji was full of confidence now. "Like I'll be fazed by that." He made another shoulder charge at Mana.

Mana was ready for it this time. Toji did not expect what would happen next. Mana suddenly fired a missile from her left arm. It was an N2 rocket! Toji was struck by the bomb and was thrown by the blast back over where he began the battle.

Zack, now fully recuperated, began a new assault on Mana with his twin swords.

Little did Zack know that Mana's EVA was full of nasty tricks thanks to other upgrades made by SEELE. This is why the fusion reactor was needed.

Mana allowed herself a sinister smile. "Eat my freeze missiles!"

Zack was caught by surprise and was frozen by the missiles. "_Oh SHIT_!"

Wasting no time, Mana pulled the plasma cannons back out and shot a helpless Zack. He also was now defeated.

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"Units 03 and 05 are down!" said Maya.

'Is she unstoppable?' thought Misato to herself. 'Can she be defeated?'

"Launch Units 02 and 06," ordered Gendo.

'But that means if Asuka and Elly are beaten, then it'll just be Shinji. Is Commander Ikari really going to make Shinji fight alone?'

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As soon as she reached the surface, Elly looked around for the survivors. She quickly found Unit 05 and ran over to it. "Zack! Are you okay?"

Zack opened up his com to Elly. "Yeah, I'm alive. I've felt worse than this though. Don't worry about me. I'm too damn important to die. Go get that bitch!"

"Count on it Casanova," replied Elly.

Asuka took this chance to talk to her enemy. "I can't believe you! What the fuck is wrong with you, you insane psychobitch!"

"It was all part of my plan. A two-pronged plan. If Shinji came to me as I hoped, I would have introduced him to a power that could set him free. The cover of darkness would protect him from the light he is so afraid of."

"That's just running away from your problems!" retorted Asuka. "That baka has worked his ass off trying to be a real person again! You tried to take that away from him and for that, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Come now. You earnestly believe you can defeat me?" said Mana in a taunting voice. "Let's do this."

"Elly, stay back and help the others," said Asuka. "I'll take care of Mana."

"Gotcha mate," said Elly as she began to drag the other damaged EVAs back to NERV.

"You plan to face me alone?" asked Mana. She was actually surprised.

"You bet I do."

"Fine. Let's go bitch!"

Mana disarmed her plasma cannons and planned to fight unarmed. Same with Asuka. The red EVA and yellow EVA charged into each other. The two began a fierce grapple. Asuka did a move she remembered and let Mana push her way forward. Then Asuka flipped Unit 07 over her should and it crashed into the ground.

Mana quickly got back up. "Not bad."

She retaliated even faster. Unit 02 got knocked to the ground quickly. Mana then went for the throat in an attempt to squeeze the life out of Unit 02 and Asuka. Asuka wasn't ready to let Mana win that easily. She used Unit 07's arms to pull herself up and take some good shots at Unit 07's head. After a good few hits, Mana was forced to let go of Unit 07's throat or else risk trauma to her head.

"So you're quite resourceful," said Mana.

"How do you think I've survived this long?"

"Dumb luck."

"I'll show you dumb luck!" shouted Asuka. She attacked Mana again, throwing punch after punch.

Mana decided it was time to stop fooling around and finish off Asuka. She countered and punched Unit 02 in the stomach, with Asuka feeling it big time.

Mana then made Unit 07 stand on its hands and spun around on her hands trapping Asuka in her deadly wheel kick.

Asuka was hit several times and finally knocked out cold.

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Shinji was in the launch bay in Unit 01 while all these events unfolded. Mana truly was an agent of evil. And she had hurt all his friends, including Asuka (excluding Elly).

He couldn't take much more of this. Mana had to be stopped. Otherwise, she would kill everyone he loved and cared for.

"Yes Shinji. Let that light be your guidance in the darkness…" said a voice.

"Mother. We need to stop her."

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Mana noticed Unit 02 go down. "Well she sure didn't last long. Oh well. I guess it's time I finished you off. I'll make sure to kill you Asuka so that Shinji won't have you around to brainwash him. Don't worry, he'll be in good hands."

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"Unit 02 is down!" said Maya.

"Elly! Don't worry about rescuing the others! Stop Mana!" ordered Misato.

Makoto couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Ma'am! Commander! Unit 01 has activated!"


	30. Iron Maiden Part 7: Shinji vs Mana

A/N: Here we are! The battle against Mana! Shinji is on his own in this battle. Can he defeat this Japanese powerhouse? Find out now!

Shinji vs. Mana

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Mana took out her plasma cannon. She took aim at the downed Unit 02 which housed Asuka's body. "This'll only take a second. Hopefully you were good enough to Shinji to go to Heaven. Otherwise, enjoy your new life in Hell!"

Right as she was about to fire, something struck her cannon, short circuiting it and making it useless. She looked at her cannon. It was a progressive knife! She looked in the direction the knife came from. Suddenly, she got rammed by something with enough power to send her flying about three kilometers.

Mana looked up to see what hit her. It didn't take her long to register what had hit her even though a thunderstorm was happening. During a flash, Mana saw who had hit her.

Unit 01.

Unit 01 ran over to Unit 02 to see if its pilot was alive. "Asuka! Wake up!" he said to her as he shook the fallen red beast.

'What was all that shaking?' Asuka thought to herself. She snapped back into consciousness. "Shinji? Is that you?"

"Asuka!" Shinji was sure happy. "Are you hurt? Can you move?"

Auska tried to move Unit 02, but the damage the EVA had taken was like pain to Asuka. "No. I can't move. Ow! It hurts!"

"Just relax then," said Shinji with reassurance in her voice. "I'll stop Mana."

Mana by now had gotten back to her feet. "How cute. Just to show you how nice I am, I'll make sure a special place is set aside for the both of you in Hell!"

Asuka shot back. "Guess what bitch! You've just dug yourself into a hole you can't get out of! You're about to fight the Invincible Shinji! And he's by far better than me! So there's no chance in hell you're gonna win!"

A/N: Asuka as we know does not like Mana. And she'll do anything to get at Mana in this case, even if it means admitting Shinji is the best EVA pilot."

"Is that so?" asked Mana. "Well Shinji, I hope you put up a much better fight than the others did."

Unit got up to face Unit 07. Shinji took this chance to speak. "Why Mana? Why did you betray us?"

"Isn't it obvious? I side with the strongest! We trusted in the light that would be there for us at the end of the path. And what did we have to do? Depend on the hopes of an unstable boy! Luckily for us, you chose to abort 3rd Impact so we could have a shot at getting it right."

"I used to be afraid of the light," started Shinji. "But it has always been there for me, no matter how many times I retreated into the darkness."

Mana blew off his reply. "But darkness is always there for you. Wherever you go. And once I'm through with you, you'll be in a much better place. From the looks of things, I won't be able to just kill you. I'll have to shatter your AT Field which houses your soul."

Shinji was confused. "What do you mean Mana?"

"Oh just this." Mana began to concentrate. She called out, "Ancient forces of the Diablos, I humbly call amongst thee to grant me your power. I cast my soul into your presence, and I am imbued with your infinite power. Now I conjure the Seal of Diablos!"

"MANA, NO! DON'T DO IT!" yelled Shinji.

But it was far too late. A red circle of fire appeared at Unit 07's feet. Then the circle spread out until in encased both Shinji and Mana within its unholy grasp. Then, the five-point star was drawn.

Shinji could sense the evil power flowing to Mana. As he looked at Unit 07, on its head was a mini version of the Seal. But what was even worse was the way Mana looked on the visual com. She didn't change at all, but she had the seal on her forehead and her eyes turned a blood red.

"Ah, now this is what I call power."

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On a mountain far away, a lone person watched the battle that was about to take place. The person's face could not be seen, but one could tell he was watching the events with great interest. Also, one could notice the halo above his head, symbolizing he was already dead.

"Let's see how much you've grown since we've met Shinji. Just remember that as long as you grasp for the smallest glimmer of light in the darkness, there is always hope." the figure said. Suddenly, large angel wings appeared from his back and he took off for probably the heavens.

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"Now you're doomed," said the powered up Mana. "My power has increased greatly. And once you lose, the Seal will shatter your AT Field, and take your soul and merge it with the other souls already merged with my master's creation."

"That's crazy!" replied Shinji. "It's a world of false illusions! I've been there before! And all I did was live out my worst nightmares! I've learned I can't run away from reality! And I won't let you take reality away from this world!"

"Fine! Enough talk! Let's fight!"

As Asuka watched from outside the Seal, she was amazed at Shinji's words. He was no longer the spineless wimp she knew before 3rd Impact. He really had grown up and no longer tried to run away from reality. 'Reality is more afraid of us than we are of it. Because although it may look bad, we can make change happen in our world. Go get her Shinji!'

The two EVAs rushed each other. And locked into a fierce grapple. Shinji apparently should have been at a disadvantage, but he was able to match Mana's enhanced strength. He let her advance on him, then countered with a knee to Unit 07's chest and then kicked it flying with amazing strength as it crashed into the Seal wall.

Mana quickly got back to her feet. "Not bad. Even with my amplified power, you'll still be a match for me. Please keep this up."

Shinji attacked again. Mana this time chose to go with an N2 rocket. Shinji saw it coming and dodged it. As the rocket exploded on the far side of the Seal, the two EVAs began their battle again. This time as they grappled, Mana pulled back, and jumped over Shinji while doing a 180 degree spin in the air. Now facing his back, she kicked him, with Unit 01 crashing face first into the Seal wall.

Shinji struggled to get back up. Once he did, they began a barrage of punches and kicks at each other. Mana's attacks hit hard and they came in fast. It took all of Shinji's concentration to defeat this demon that threatened his life and the life of his loved ones and friends.

Mana suddenly did a handstand, spread out her legs, and began spinning around, thus Shinji being struck several times by her deadly wheel kick. Shinji knew resisting would only get him hit more, so let himself get hit. After he was pushed back far enough, he quickly noticed that Mana was still spinning. So he attempted a sliding tackle that he had seen in soccer games on TV.

It worked. Mana's motion was interrupted and she was pushed back crashing upside down.

"Well done Shinji," said Mana. "I guess I'll have to take this up another notch." She hit a couple buttons on her computers.

Shinji's jaw dropped when he saw what he saw next. On Unit 07's back, came large mechanical wings. And jet thrusters appeared all over its body. "Oh shit," he said out loud.

"Shit is right," replied the demonic girl. Unit 07 flew around him at amazing speed and kicked him from behind.

Shinji struggled to get up from his latest bashing. But Mana picked up Unit 01 and carried it up into the sky. "Die," she said as she threw Unit 01 back down with incredible force.

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"Shinji's sync is zero!" said Mana. "He's been defeated!"

"No!" said Misato. "Then that means the Seal will take him away!"

"It's closing in on him!" said Shigeru!

"No! SHINJI!"

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Shinji wondered where he was. He wasn't on the battlefield. So he assumed he lost and was in the false reality that Mana said he would go to. "Oh well. I tried. I gave it my all," he said aloud.

"Wake up and smell reality!" It was Asuka. "You're not done yet! And you are not going to give either!"

"Asuka?" called out Shinji.

"She isn't the only one here." It was Zack. "We're all here."

Shinji looked around him. He could see everyone else, Rei, Ivana, Elly, Toji, Misato, Ritsuko, Maya, Shigeru, Tabris, Makoto, Fuyutski, and Yui and Gendo.

"Everyone? Why are you here? I'm all alone inside the Seal!"

"No you're not," said Yui. "You carry us in your heart wherever you go."

"Just as we carry you in our hearts," said Rei.

"We all need each other to help each other grow," said Misato.

"As long as you continue to reach for the light, the darkness will never conquer all," said Tabris.

"That's right," said Asuka. "We are the lights that are in your heart."

"And combined, we create a power the darkness can never conquer," said Ivana.

"Exactly," said Zack. "Embrace the light that is you and all of us."

Gendo spoke now. "We all have faith in you Shinji. Take our light, and use it to vanquish the darkness!"

Everyone pours out their arms to Shinji. They all turn into balls of light, which merge with Shinji's soul.

Shinji felt incredible power flowing through him. "Mana! I am far from beaten!"

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Mana watched from the air as the Seal closed in on Unit 01. "So even the Invincible Shinji was no match for me. You disappointed me. Oh well, the Seal will take you to a better place."

Suddenly, to Mana's shock, Unit 01 began to glow a very bright light. The light pushed back the Seal.

"But that's impossible!"

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"The Seal has been pushed back!" said Makoto.

"Shinji's sync has hit 500 again!" said Maya.

"What? But how?" said Gendo.

"C'mon Shinji!" said Misato.

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Mana watched in horror as the glowing Unit 01 made its way to its feet. It began to float in the air until it was at the same altitude as Mana. Next it gave off a big flash of light, and Mana couldn't see for a few seconds. When she was able to see again, her jaw almost dropped at the sight she was beholding.

Unit 01 had stopped glowing, but in its place, were several orange spectral wings that had grown out of its back.

Shinji spoke up. "You see Mana, as long as I continue to grasp for even the smallest glimmer of light, the darkness will never be able to conquer all!"

"You're wrong! Darkness defeats all!" You'll see!"

And so began the aerial battle. Neither EVA refused to voluntarily give an inch. They rose up higher and higher into the sky.

Mana tried to trick Shinji by letting him advance into her grapple, but Shinji then brought Unit 01's knees up and slammed them into Unit 07's face. Shinji then did an aerial tornado kick which sent Mana crashing into the Seal wall.

Mana then charged back in a rage at being tricked. "I'LL KILL YOU!" she yelled.

Shinji was now in full control. He blocked her assaults effortlessly, then he caught her with her guard down, and landed several kicks to Unit 07's face.

"PLAYTIME IS OVER!" yelled Mana. She took out the plasma cannons. "One blast from these will send you to Hell!" She wasted no time in aiming and fired!

Shinji concentrated. "Grasp for the light and you will know what to do," said a voice inside his head.

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"Something's happening to Shinji's AT Field!" said Maya.

"What? What's happening?" asked Ritsuko.

"Unit 01's AT Field is supposed to surround its body, but the AT Field is being focused into Unit 01's arms."

"I'm getting a heavy buildup of power in Unit 01's hands," said Shigeru.

'Is Shinji trying to project his AT Field as an energy cannon?' thought Ritsuko. 'Is that even possible?'

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Shinji concentrated and rerouted his AT Field into his hands. "Mana, this is the light's answer to the darkness! AT CANNON!"

Shinji brought his hands together and projected his AT Field. A large beam of energy shot out at Mana's blast from her plasma cannons.

The two beams of energy met each other in the middle. Neither seemed to give an inch.

Shinji concentrated on all those who he was fighting for, and the hopes and dreams of those whose he fate he had control over. He knew he had to win at all costs. He knew he would win.

As if the AT Cannon sensed his belief, its power increased seven fold.

Mana's plasma cannons could not stand up to the AT Cannon's increased power. She was hit directly. Her wings, jet thrusters, cannons, and armour were destroyed in the blast. Unit 07 collapsed to the ground.

Shinji brought Unit 01 down to the ground as well. He was exhausted. Hopefully he would not have to continue.

But Unit 07 managed to get back up. Mana spoke again. "How is this possible? The darkness would never abandon me."

"Mana, once the darkness has no more use for you, it will abandon you, leaving you on your own," said Shinji.

"I see," said Mana. "But the light will never abandon those who follow it. That's why you're so strong. And also why I was unable to beat you."

"Yes. I'm sorry I had to hurt you," said Shinji.

Mana still had her red eyes and the Seal on her forehead, but the evil was weakening in her. "Heh, heh, Asuka said you always apologized even when it wasn't your fault. I'm the one that should be apologizing. So I'm sorry."

"That's better," said Shinji. "Is there a way for both of us to escape."

Mana bowed her head down. "No. Only one of us can escape."

"Why? I don't want to have to kill you."

Mana smiled. "Don't worry Shinji. You won't have to kill me with your own hands."

Shinji realized what Mana was going to do. "NO! DON'T DO IT!"

Mana spoke one more time. "I'm glad I got to meet you Shinji. Goodbye. I forfeit…"

In response, the Seal of Diablos closed in on Unit 07. It shattered Mana's AT Field and sucked away her soul.

"NOOOOOOOO!" yelled Shinji.

Asuka by now had regained control of her Unit 02. Once she knew the battle was over, she went over to see if Shinji was okay. Unit 01's wings had faded and it fell on its back. Asuka quickly force-ejected Unit 01's entry plug, and opened it manually. There she saw Shinji, who was crying.

"Shinji?" she called out to him.

Shinji suddenly wrapped his arms around her. She held him close and comforted him as best as she could. 'It just wasn't fair,' she told herself.

She noticed he stopped crying. Even with thunder in the background, she could hear the systematic breathing of someone who had fallen asleep. 'Poor guy. Cried himself to sleep.' She kissed his forehead and continued to hold the broken pilot.

A/N: And there you have the end of the Iron Maiden Saga. Kind of heart-wrenching at the end though. I hope you liked the battle. Until 31, be cool!


	31. Dr Sohryu

A/N: Heck, I'll bet the ending of the Iron Maiden Saga was quite the heartbreaker there at the end. It's a shame some may say, but for plot device, she had to die.

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A hooded man watched where the battle against Mana Kirishima and Unit 07 had taken place just yesterday. "It was quite the battle too," he said aloud. "It's a shame she had to lose."

A larger man also wearing a hood to conceal his identity spoke. "Master. What has become of the girl?"

"When she loses when using the Seal of Diablos, the Seal shattered her AT Field and took away her soul and she popped into what NERV calls LCL."

"And merged with out master's creation."

"Yes," said the shorter man. "God will pay for making me wander the earth for thousands of years. Only a bit longer now. How is our soul collecting coming along?"

The big man replied, "Slow, but it's happening. With some help from our contacts in Eurasia, we are training new soldiers with the Seal of Diablos. Those that succeed will aid in future attacks on NERV. Those that lose become merged into the one entity."

"Good. Tell him to keep up the good work. I'll be leaving to have a talk with SEELE again and discuss our Black Angel plans." The shorter man vanished. The big man vanished too.

'Those old men have no idea what we are really up to…'

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Asuka was in Misato's apartment all by herself. Shinji was there too, but he had been sleeping ever since his battle with Mana. She felt sorry for Shinji because she knew he hated to have to fight other humans, especially someone his age. Zack had gone out to flirt with some girls or go see Elly. Misato went to check on the status of the EVAs. Ivana was at the gym doing a workout. Rei had gone for a walk. And Pen-Pen was in his fridge.

"If only Shinji would wake up," she said aloud, faintly hoping he would hear her. It was early next morning and he had been sleeping since the battle yesterday. Upon examination earlier, Ritsuko suggested Shinji just needed time to rest after the 500 sync happened again.

Asuka went into Shinji's room. Unfortunately he was still sleeping. She laid down next to him, craving the boy's warmth that he would have to unfortunately give. She draped her arms over him. "Huh? That's weird. He's really warm. And looks really pale too." On impulse she put her hand on his forehead and her other hand on her forehead to compare temperatures. "Yikes, he's a lot warmer than I am!"

Asuka ran to the bathroom to find the thermometer. She found it quickly and brought it back to the sleeping but seemingly ill Shinji. After sticking it in his mouth she waited for the beeping sound. That beeping sound came after two minutes. Asuka checked the results and gasped. "103.2! Fuck! I gotta call Misato!" Before she did that, she got a cold damp cloth from the bathroom and placed it on Shinji's forehead. "Damn! It must be all the stress from that battle with that bitch!"

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NERV HQ

"So how are the EVAs doing?" asked the Major.

"So far so good," said Makoto. "Units 01, 00, and 06 are ready to fight," replied Makoto. "The others are still being repaired."

Just then Misato's phone rang. It was Asuka. "What is it Asuka? Has he woke up yet?"

"WOKE UP? WOKE UP? SHINJI'S RUNNING A GODAMN FEVER!"

"I see," replied Misato. "How bad?"

"He has a temperature of 103! Of course it's bad!" shouted Asuka over the phone. "Get a doctor over here!"

Misato sighed. "Calm down. I'll have Ritsuko go over."

"Good! If anything happens to Shinji I'll stomp on you with Unit 02!"

"Okay." Misato hung up and dialed Ritsuko.

"What is it Misato? I'm kinda busy at the moment."

"We have a problem Ritsuko. Asuka just called me and said Shinji's running a high temperature. Could you go over and check on him?"

"Okay Misato. You never know these days what a high temperature. I'll go right over." She hung up.

Now that Shinji would be taken care of, Misato went back to overseeing EVA repairs.

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Zack and Elly were watching watercraft racing on the NERV big-screen TV. They were watching a high-speed boat race.

"I love it when the boats crash. I just crave mindless destruction," said Elly.

"Whoa, are you okay? Not always the best thing to say," replied Zack.

"Hey, crashes are fun! I've been in a crash before! I landed on TV because of it as well!"

"You are one crazy girl Elly," said Zack.

"And you're quite the agent. You and Ivana dared to take on Mana who was extremely dangerous and you came out alive."

"Meh. That's what I was trained for," said Zack.

"Ready to take on everything as usual. But I guess that's what I dig about you Zack. What do you dig about me?"

Zack thought for a moment. "The fact that you live life without giving a damn about what someone thinks. And if they throw something at you, you throw it right back and make them look stupid."

Elly laughed at the remark. "That's me all over. And Asuka learned that the hard way in Australia." The thought of sandy beaches and Sea-Dooing made her feel homesick. "Aww, I miss Sydney so much."

Zack pulled her close. "I know how it feels. I miss good old Toronto as well. But we have to fight so we can have those places to cherish forever."

Elly was surprised. "You know, you're quite the gentleman when you want to be."

"Am I?"

"Yes, just make sure you don't become some lame duck when you get older."

"Like Gendo Ikari?"

"Yes!" said Elly. "Like him! He needs a girlfriend!"

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Misato's Apartment

"Dammit! Where is she?" Asuka was getting frustrated/worried that Ritsuko hadn't shown up yet. She went into Shinji's room so he would have some company. Just then the doorbell rang. Asuka raced to the door hoping it was Ritsuko. It was. She had a bag of gadgets a doctor would need.

"Ah Asuka. Where's Shinji?" she asked.

"He's in this room sleeping," said the red-head.

"Okay, just give me a few minutes to examine him and find out what's wrong," replied the doctor."

Asuka waited patiently outside while Ritsuko checked up on Shinji. 'Schiest! The day I get to spend time with Shinji he's SICK! He'll be in good hands though. He's got me watching over him! You can't find better care than that! I took excellent care of him after his first 500-sync incident!'

While Asuka was so lost in her thoughts about how good of a good caretaker she was, that Ritsuko had to call her a few times when she came back out. Once Asuka was back in reality, she asked Ritsuko, "How is he Doctor?"

"I think the fever is stress related," said Ritsuko. "Seeing Mana die before his eyes was a shock to him. He'll live though. But he needs to take it easy though. And when he wakes up, make sure he drinks plenty of fluids too."

"Is that it?" asked Asuka.

"Yeah that's about it. I'm going back to NERV. I'll give Misato a prescription for Shinji. Later."

So now Asuka was left alone with Shinji again. To Asuka's surprise, Shinji began to stir and wake up. "Asuka… ugh… feel weak…"

"Hey! Just relax! You're running a high fever! I can't have you dying on me!"

Shinji felt like hell. "What hit me? Head hurts…"

"Just take it slowly." Asuka helped Shinji sit up. "Good. Now you just wait there while I make you some soup to bring that temperature down." Asuka left the room to make chicken noodle soup for the sick boy.

While Asuka was cooking, Shinji tried to recollect his memories of what happened before he passed out. Then it all came back to him. Mana, the Seal of Diablos, how he showed her that light conquers the darkness, how she surrendered so he would live. Then he couldn't remember anything after that.

Just then Asuka came in with a tray with a bowl on it. "Your food."

"Thanks," replied Shinji. "Say Asuka, how long have I been asleep for?"

"Well, I'd have to say about 15 hours. And you fell asleep after the battle, so I had to drag you back."

"I see. Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize!" replied Asuka. "Just be happy you're still here!"

"Okay." Shinji went back to eating. After a few mouthfuls he asked, "Where's everyone else?"

"Well let's see. Wondergirl is out for a walk. She probably went to NERV for all I know. Zack also went to NERV to see Down-Under Girl. Shameless he is. Ivana went to the gym to workout. She's a crazy macho-girl. She's strong enough. And Misato is at NERV as well. And Hikari is out of town, so I'm stuck here looking after you. And now you're sick."

"Sorry."

"Oh never mind. I'll look after you because Misato isn't qualified to look after sick kids."

Once Shinji finished the soup he persuaded Asuka to help him into the TV room. Asuka then got him a glass of orange juice. "Ritsuko said you should drink plenty of fluids to bring your temperature down. And if possible, get some rest."

"If you say so," said Shinji as he turned on the TV. Asuka went to the kitchen to answer the phone that was ringing. He heard talking, then Asuka yelling, then hanging up with frustration. This sequence was unfortunately repeated three more times.

Asuka came back all angry. "What's wrong?" asked Shinji.

"Misato doesn't know anything about child care! She's spending the night somewhere else and made one of her flunkies deliver your prescription. I bet she's going to Kaji's again. Casanova, Machogirl, the Stooge, and Wondergirl are having a sleepover at Down-Under Girl's! And we can't go because you're too sick! Grrrrr!"

"Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize! I'll get back at Misato for this!" Asuka's face changes to a devilish smile. "Besides, that means you and I get some time alone! Just me being here should bring your temperature down."

Just then the doorbell rang. Asuka went to answer it. It was a Section-2 agent bringing over Shinji's medicine. Asuka thanked the guard and he went back to his post just down the hall, and told the other guards the relay system worked fine.

Once Asuka got Shinji to take some medicine, she had another idea. "Hey Shinji, I know something we can do and you don't have to get up."

"What do you have in mind?" asked the curious boy.

Asuka sits on his lap and leans closer to him. "Just this." And she began to kiss him.

Their kiss lasts about 30 seconds before Asuka breaks it off. "How do you feel now?" she asked.

"A little better I guess," replied Shinji. "How long does it take for the medicine to kick in?"

"Says only about 30 minutes," said Asuka.

"Can I get some more orange juice?"

"Sure. Dr. Sohryu is here to help!" She rushed off to the kitchen to get more orange juice. Once Shinji had downed the entire glass, Asuka decided it was time to check his temperature again. "103.0. Well, it's going down. So far so good. Once that medicine kicks in, it'll start dropping."

They took some time to watch TV. They decided to watch one of those police chases that had crooks trying to flee at very high speeds.

"It's so stupid," said Asuka. "Why doesn't the moron know he's gonna get caught? Chances are he'll wipe out and get himself killed!"

"I saw this one guy once doing 200 km/h on a motorcycle. And he was going so fast that he couldn't avoid the tractor-trailer in front of him. He went smack into the side of it and was killed instantly."

They watched some more police chases when Asuka felt hungry. "I'm gonna make lunch. What do you feel like?"

"Doesn't matter really," said Shinji. "I know whatever you make won't kill me. Your cooking is better than Misato's."

"Lunch coming up! I hope you can handle German smoked sausages!"

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SEELE's Meeting

SEELE 10: A loss of a valuable agent.

SEELE 05: But look at how capable she was in battle.

SEELE 03: It took a divine intervention of sorts for the Third Child to win.

SEELE 01: (Just logged in) Good day.

SEELE 04: Ah Chairman! What is the news?

SEELE 01: The time for Oholah and Ohlibah to awaken is soon.

SEELE 08: The Second and Third Child have had training in two-on-two combat. Chances are this may not work.

SEELE 06: Likely, but using the Black Angels costs us no money. Unlike those in Eurasia. That costs us a great deal of money and soldiers.

SEELE 11: But it goes quite a way to achieve 3rd Impact this time. And we will succeed.

SEELE 07: Will the 3rd and 4th be successful?

SEELE 01: These sisters are more deadly than the 7th Angel ever was!

SEELE 09: But if they are as powerful as you say, it makes me wonder how powerful the 17th Black Angel will be should the time come.

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NERV HQ

Gendo went over his reports. Out of the small pity he had for Mana Kirishima, he had ordered what was left of the LCL in Unit 07's entry plug, have it all placed in a casket and bury it at a gravesite, therefore giving the alleged Eighth Child a proper burial. He knew Shinji would want that.

He pondered the other things he had learned about Mana. Master's creation? Apparently, this meant she was working for somebody. And this also meant SEELE was working for someone else as well. Gendo knew those washed up old men could not come up with something like the Seal of Diablos on their own. Some unholy being had to have given it to them.

He learned from Kozou that Elly was planning a sleepover in her room. The First, Fifth, Fourth, and Sixth were invited. Apparently, the Third and the Second were still at Katsuragi's apartment. Shinji had come down with a temperature of 103. Dr. Akagi said it was from the stress of Shinji having to fight a child and the 500 sync score that he had gotten. The Second Child, Sohryu was apparently watching over Shinji when it should be Katsuragi. He made a note to Fuyutski to slash Misato's paycheck by 10 percent as a penalty.

Once he was done looking over his reports, he thought about his son. Hopefully his son would be able to forgive for all his wrongdoings. He went over to his phone and called for Kozou to come in.

Two minutes later, the Vice-Commander came in. "You called for me?"

"Yes. I have a question that you may be able to answer."

Kozou was curious now. For Gendo to ask him a question would always shock him. As he knew his superior to always have an answer or always looking for an answer to a problem. "And what would that question be?"

Gendo paused for a moment then spoke up. "I want Shinji to forgive me for my atrocities. What do you suggest I do to make it up to him?"

Now Kozou was even more shocked. He had an idea that may help, but he wondered if Gendo would be up to it, knowing his cold personality. "A father-son day?" he suggested.

"I see. That may work." Gendo had a way to make everything work. However, that day would have to wait until Shinji's health was better than it was now. "Inform Major Katsuragi that her paycheck is being docked for her actions with Shinji being sick. Where is she?"

"She's at Mr. Ryouji's place," replied Kozou.

"I see." Gendo had been through Misato's profile and he knew very well about her… lifestyle while she was in college when she was with Kaji Ryouji. "Was Shinji's prescription delivered?"

"Yes it was. Our Section-2 agents used the relay system they've been training with."

"Good," said Gendo. "That medicine will have his temperature down very quickly. One of our best creations."

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Misato's apartment – 2 1/2 hours later

"Well, that was quite the movie," said Asuka. After lunch, they had decided to watch a movie that Asuka knew very well in Germany. But for Shinji to understand it, they had to use Japanese subtitles. "Let's check your temperature again." And so she took out the thermometer and placed it in Shinji's mouth. "Hmm, 102.8. Slowly, but it's coming down. Told ya you were in good hands with Dr. Sohryu!"

"Hehe, I guess so," said Shinji. "I'm gonna take a nap now. Maybe a little rest will bring my temperature down some more."

"Good call!" said Asuka. "If there's one thing anyone should know, it's that rest is the best thing to do when you're sick."

"Okay." Shinji yawned and quickly fell asleep on the couch.

'He must be exhausted,' Asuka thought to herself. She laid down next to him on the couch. "Sleep tight Shinji," she whispered. She gave him a quick kiss and fell asleep next to him.

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NERV HQ – That night

Misato was on her way back to NERV from Kaji's place. As always, she enjoyed the times when she went to that man's house. He could make her feel special in ways no one else could.

Once she had gotten back to NERV, she logged on to a computer to check her messages. She had two messages that had come in while she was at Kaji's.

Message One was from Ritsuko.

Misato,

Just to inform you, Elly Simpson is having a sleepover in her room at NERV. Toji, Zack, Ivana, and Rei were all invited. Don't worry about the boys though, as Ivana is there and was told to annihilate those two should they try anything they shouldn't. I have word from the Section-2 agents that Shinji is doing much better now. That is all, as I plan to retire for the night and spend some time with my cats. Later.

Ritsuko.

'That's some good news. It'll be quiet tomorrow. Now what does message two say.

Message Two was from Gendo Ikari.

While you were off defiling your body again, you neglected to take the necessary action to deal with the sick EVA pilot Shinji Ikari, who is in your care. To make matters worse, you left EVA pilot Asuka Sohryu to look after him when they are both YOUR responsibility. To deter any further irresponsibility from you, 10 percent of your paycheck will be divided among the Section-2 agents you ordered to deliver Shinji's prescription. Hopefully this will prevent you from putting your body's desires before the EVA pilots again.

One can say Misato was not happy about this.

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Asuka woke up. She noticed Shinji was still sleeping. So she checked the time. She had been asleep for 4 ½ hours. She then checked Shinji's forehead. His temperature had gone right down. Ritsuko must have been right to assume Shinji's fever was stress related. And once the stress was gone, so was the temperature. She checked it again with the thermometer. It read 99.7. This brought a smile to the redhead's face.

'Just wait until Misato sees what a job Dr. Sohryu did. And unless she brings home something to eat, I'm gonna raise hell on that whore! I know what she was doing, and what she does with him is disgusting!'

A/N: And there you have it. A quick note to Chiban-Chan. Like I said, this will be posted by the time you wake up.

On top of that, the kids had better be ready for the arrival of Oholah and Ohlibah, the next Black Angels. Can they beat this terrible duo? Find out next time in Chapter 32! Until then, be cool!


	32. Oholah and Ohlibah

A/N: Well it's time to celebrate again! I've hit the milestone of 100,000 words! And now to respond to the reviewers.

nick2951 – If you think you know, could you not say anything so as not to spoil the story? Thanks. BTW, taking your advice on Mana's death, I made her die with grace as you noticed. A lot better than my brother's idea I tell you.

Jasmine fire adept – I'm sure you are not an idiot. Thanks for your reviews.

Chiban-chan – I'm glad you think my fic is the best!

VrtraHex – I'm glad this one is your favourite!

Arm-Slave – OMG! Your comment had me rolling with laughter!

And thanks to everyone else for your reviews. So far so good! Almost at 100! Keep reviewing! On with it!

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NERV HQ – Ritsuko's Office

The doctor was busy in her work as usual. She was spending some at her grandmother's house as she hadn't done for quite some time as NERV usually had her buried in work. But today she decided her workload was light enough so that she could visit her grandmother and her cats. One of them had died and Ritsuko had spent most of the morning looking for a cat to replace it. And now, the new white kitten sat on her lap while she typed away at her desktop computer early in the morning.

There were a few problems that kept eluding her. Like how a portion of Yui Ikari's soul ended up in Rei Ayanami's body. It just didn't make any sense. But if Rei had something of a soul, it may explain how Rei does the things she normally wouldn't do, such as go on vacation, play paintball with Zack and Ivana, or even get a tan or dance. That normally wasn't like Rei at all.

The second problem was that Shinji and Asuka were both able to achieve a 500-sync ratio with their respective EVAs. She knew at a 100-sync, the EVA could go berserk as Shinji had done with Unit 01 and Asuka had done once during 3rd Impact with Unit 02. And a 400-sync would make the beast within come to life. And now a 500-sync made the EVA grow wings that were never part of the original design. Perhaps they were created by the AT Field?

"Oh Ritsuko. Come have some tea," called her grandmother.

"Coming Grandma." Suddenly, the city's siren went off. "Gotta cancel that Grandma. I gotta go!" And with that, she rushed out the door and drove off to NERV.

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NERV HQ – Battle Stations

"Where's Dr. Akagi?" asked Maya. "We have an emergency."

"It's not like her to be late," said Makoto. "Something's wrong usually if she's late."

Just then, Ritsuko came rushing in. "Sorry I'm late! Status!"

"We have two targets just outside the city!" reported Shigeru. "10 kilometers out! There are two of them, and they look like large winged dragons."

"Black Waveform patterns detected! MAGI are 100 percent sure they are Black Angels."

Gendo was in his seat watching what was going on. "Go to First Stage Alert. Tell Major Katsuragi to have the pilots ready to be launched. And Dr. Akagi…"

Ritsuko turned around to face her commander. "Yes?"

"Try to wear more appropriate footwear in the future."

Ritsuko looked down and gasped. She was wearing the pink slippers her grandmother had given her with the pompoms on the toes. The other technicians couldn't help but laugh.

"HEY! WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY HERE! THIS IS NO TIME TO BE LAUGHING!"

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Tokyo-3 (Set in battle formation)

Misato had ordered the kids to take several different positions around the city with positron rifles and be on the lookout for any UFOs.

"Are we shooting down alien spacecraft or something?" asked Zack.

"Casanova, weren't you listening? We're shooting down the Black Angels!" said Misato over the com.

"What do they look like?" asked Rei.

"Yeah, we were just told to take positions and be ready to shoot something down," said Toji.

Ritsuko came on the com. "Any second now, you'll be seeing two giant creatures that look like winged dragons. One is red, and the other is blue. Make sure they are both dead. It seems strange because we've never had two Angels attack at the same time."

"Here they come!" said Ivana suddenly.

In the sky, they saw the targets. Indeed, they looked like two dragons. Once they came close enough, a flurry of gunfire at the beasts began. Immediately, the duo split up. They were large, but very fast.

"Damn! Stay still you flying son of a bitch!" Zack was getting frustrated by trying to hit these things.

"Why do so many people hate us?" said Asuka firing her gun rapidly. "To hate us enough to unleash these things on us? Don't they realize 3rd Impact was a false illusion?" Asuka had one dragon fly by her and she couldn't hit after several rounds of gunfire. Suddenly, her gun clicked empty. "Shinji! Cover me! I need to reload!"

Unit 01 moved closer to Unit 02 so he could cover her while she reloaded.

"Screw this! I'm taking out the heavy artillery!" Toji put down his positron rifle and went with the rocket launcher. One dragon swooped by. Unit 03 opened fire. To Toji's shock, the dragon smacked the rocket with its wings and sent the missile back at Toji. "Oh shit!" Toji braced for the impact. BOOM!

"Toji are you okay?" asked Misato.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Elly took this chance to talk. "Next time don't be so reckless!"

Rei continued firing as well. But her gun clicked. However, she chose not to call one of the others over for backup. She went with the two pistols she had beside her. However, her guard was down as she was switching weapons…

The two dragons began screeching in a way that appeared to be some sort of communication. The red dragon went after Rei, while the blue dragon followed closely behind.

"Watch out Rei!" said Misato.

It was too late. The dragons capitalized on Rei temporarily lowered guard. As the blue one played defense for the red one, the red dragon opened its mouth and fired some sort of fireball at Unit 00.

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"Unit 00 has suffered damage. High mental trauma!" reported Maya.

"Toji! Get Rei back here now!" ordered Misato.

"Roger!" replied Toji.

"Switch all of Unit 00's power to life support!" ordered Ritsuko.

"Elly, cover their escape!" ordered Misato again.

Everyone watched at Unit 06 moved in front of Unit 03 as it carried Unit 00 back into NERV HQ.

"Have a medical team ready to retrieve the pilot," ordered Gendo. Have the pilots switch to the loose pentagon formation."

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"Kids, new order from Commander Ikari," started Misato. "He said to switch to the loose pentagon formation."

As the kids continued to fire at the dragons, they moved into their required positions around the outskirts of the city, so it looked like a pentagon from far above.

They continued their rounds of fire at the dragons, which seemed to be impossible to hit.

Zack then got an idea. "Hey, I got an idea."

"What kind of idea?" asked Shinji.

"I'll taunt them to get them both to attack me, then you guys open fire on them. Chances are, we'll get one of them."

"Chances are they'll fry you," said Asuka.

"Well if he wants to get barbecued, then let him," said Ivana.

"Let's try it!" said Elly.

"Okay when I give the signal, fire!" said Zack.

'What is Casanova up to?' asked Misato.

Zack moved out into the open where the dragons could see him. He then turned Unit 05's back to them, and started mooning them with the EVA. "HEY ASSHOLES! COME AND GET IT!" He also smacked his EVA's backside to bolster the effect.

"ZACK!" shouted Misato. "This is NO time to fool around!"

"Look, he got their attention!" said Ritsuko over the com.

The dragons seemed to notice this and flew towards him. Once they were within seconds of being in attack range of Unit 05, Zack shouted "NOW!"

The four others began their simultaneous fire on the dragons. To their success, the blue dragon was hit and went down. The red one did not last well on its own, as it was downed not long after.

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The shorter hooded man watched from far away as he liked to whenever the EVAs would battle. "Seems like Keel took my advice and summoned both of them at the same time," he said aloud. "You must beware kids. These dragon sisters are deadly in the air and on the ground." He began to concentrate. While in concentration, he spoke to them through telepathy. "The purple and red EVAs are the toughest. Focus on the others first."

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Both dragons got back up. The red one turned to face Unit 04. The other turned to face Units 05 and 06.

"Let's take 'em apart!" said Zack. He charged after the blue head-on!"

"Zack, no!" shouted Ivana.

Unit 05 attempted to grab the blue dragon in a bear hug, but right before he did, the blue dragon jumped into the air and he was looking right at the red dragon who blew a fireball right into the chest of Unit 05.

"HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!" shouted Zack. "I gotta eject!" He moved Unit 05 as far away as he could, then ejected the entry plug.

"What an idiot," said Asuka.

"Apparently, these dragons use teamwork," said Shinji.

"So that means we have to fight as a team as well," replied Elly.

"It's not as easy as it sounds," said Ivana. "We would require two of us who know the others' moves inside and out."

"Well I think your teammate burned out," said Asuka.

Shinji had an idea. "Hey! I know! Asuka and I have done synchronization training. We know each others' moves fairly well!"

In response, Ivana and Elly stepped back. "Then we leave this to you."

"Yeah," said Elly. "You better bring Shinji back Asuka!"

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The hooded man continued to watch from afar. The current developments surprised him. "Two-on-two? I never expected this would happen. Now we have a tag-team match. Well Shinji and Asuka, even if you defeat them, you still won't beat them. But this will be interesting."

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Asuka moved to face the dragons. "Just remember, think like me, as I think like you!" she said.

"Got it," replied Shinji. "GO!"

Both EVAs hid behind buildings on the outskirts of town. The dragons were confused by the sudden cowardice. But they could hear movement, but it sounded like it was coming from all around. Then they heard no sounds.

Suddenly, they heard an explosion come from behind them. In response they both turned around to see what it was.

Suddenly, Unit 02 came down from above with two progressive swords in its hands. As the dragons turned around to intercept her, Unit 01 appeared from below with gunfire cover. One dragon managed to dodge, but the other got slashed across the chest, and roared out in pain. The other dragon went to assist, but was hit by a missile launcher from Shinji.

"Great teamwork you two!" said Misato. "They're retreating!"

"Follow them!" ordered Commander Ikari. "Battery packs are being provided."

Once battery packs were equipped onto Units 01 and 02, the two EVAs gave chase at high speed. The dragon's wings were hit from Zack's scheme, so they were fleeing on foot.

It didn't take long to catch up with the two Black Angels. They had obviously chosen to stop running. Perhaps their plan was to face Shinji and Asuka out here on the open plain.

They both attack together this time. Shinji and Asuka both attacked simultaneously. A five punch combo, followed by a somersault off the chest and a tornado kick brought them down.

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The hooded man continued to watch from far away, seeming very impressed by the battle. "Okay you two, see what happens when you fool around? Time to stop playing and finish them."

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Suddenly both dragons gave a large simultaneous roar.

"What are they doing Asuka?" asked Shinji.

"How am I supposed to know? I don't speak dragon!"

Suddenly, a flash of light blinded the two.

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"The Black Angels are undergoing some sort of bio-fusion!" said Shigeru.

"What? They're merging with each other?" said Ritsuko.

"Their waveform pattern is getting stronger!" said Makoto.

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Once the blinding light was gone, Asuka and Shinji gasped at what they saw. The dragons had disappeared, and in their place, was a new dragon. It was purple and it had two heads. And all apparent injuries it had were gone.

"Oh shit," said Shinji.

"Shit isn't the word for it. More like shit and shit!" said Asuka.

The two-headed dragon gave off a loud roar. The earth began to shake.

"I got a bad feeling about this," said Shinji.

"Way to point out the obvious! Let's kill before it uses that circle!"

"Oh no!" shouted Shinji over the rumbling.

What they saw next horrified them. The Seal of Diablos appeared beneath its feet. It spread out until all three were encircled. Then the five point star was drawn.

"Too late," said Shinji.

"What are you worried about?" asked Asuka. "There's two of us and one of it! How hard could it be!"

They found out the hard way. The dragon flew at Shinji, and smacked him aside with ease. Asuka took out one of the progressive swords she had. She made a direct hit, but she couldn't penetrate its AT Field. The dragon then threw a punch at Unit 02, sending is sprawling.

"Dammit!" said Asuka. "That thing is more powerful than that bitch was!"

The two EVAs slowly got back up. Misato called in on the com. "Are you two okay?"

"I'm fine," reported Shinji.

"Same here obviously," reported Asuka.

"Be careful you two, it'll take both of you to penetrate its AT Field," said Misato. "It's much more powerful than it was before."

Asuka passed Shinji a sword. "You'll need this. Anything will help to protect us in this situation. Can't you make your wings come out or something?"

"If I knew how, I would have done that already!"

The two pilots tried as best as they could, but their swords couldn't break the two-headed dragon's defenses.

Asuka then tried to get in behind it so her and Shinji could attack it from both angles. It worked for a bit, but what happened next shocked them both. One of the dragons' heads turned around to face Asuka with the other facing Shinji at the same time.

"Look out Asuka!" shouted Misato.

Unit 02 could not dodge the incoming fireball. Unit 02 took it in the face and was sent flying. Asuka clutched her face in pain.

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"Asuka is in serious pain!" shouted Maya.

Gendo made another order. "Cut her sync down to 30. It will blot out most of the pain."

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"Asuka are you alive?" asked Misato.

"What do you think? If it hurts, I'm still alive. And it FUCKING HURTS!"

"We're cutting your sync down to 30. It'll make some of the pain go away."

Asuka could feel the pain go away somewhat. She could stop clutching her face now. "That feels better."

"Good. Now help Shinji!"

Shinji had a difficult time fighting on his own. This dragon was fast and its attacks were furious. He saw something come at the dragon from behind. It was Asuka. "MOVE!" she shouted. Shinji quickly sidestepped out of the way when Asuka used Unit 02 to deliver a powerful dropkick to the back of the fused Black Angel.

Although the attack failed to penetrate the AT Field, the force of the assault was enough to send the beast flying. With a flap of the wings however, it managed to stop itself in mid flight. And it turned around to face them both.

"Great," muttered Asuka.

"Any ideas?" asked Shinji.

"Great! Even the Invincible Shinji has no clue of what to do!"

"Hey, what is that dragon doing?"

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"The dragon's heads are combining an attack!" said Makoto. "The power output is off the charts!"

"Extensive damage is imminent!" said Shigeru.

"SHINJI! ASUKA! LOOK OUT!" shouted Misato over everything.

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There was no way they could dodge the attack. Both had raised their AT Fields in hopes of putting up as much of a defense as possible. But with the Black Angel using both heads, on top of getting power from the Seal of Diablos, the attack was way more then either could handle.

Both EVAs were sprawled out on the ground, pretty much out of power. Asuka was in a lot of pain. External communications to NERV were gone, and so were the battery packs they were wearing, so they only had about 5 minutes or less before this was over. Asuka felt scared and alone. She hoped communications between EVAs were still active. "S-S-Shinji?" she called out weakly.

"Yeah, I'm here," Shinji replied, also weak and in lots of pain.

"I'm scared," said Asuka. Asuka was usually never one to back down in the face of fear, but being contained within the Seal of Diablos, usually something even worse than death happened to the loser. "We're going to die. We'll be all alone."

Shinji knew their hopes were bleak, and getting bleaker, but he had to keep Asuka's confidence high. "We're not going to die Asuka. I have faith. You need to have faith too. And even if we do die, I'll never abandon you, even in death."

Asuka felt a smile come to her face, despite the pain it was bringing. "Thanks Shinji. I don't know how, but I feel I can trust you."

"Same here. I trust you as well. Whatever happens to us, we'll face it together." Unit 01 reached to grab the hand of Unit 02. "Can you feel that?"

"Yes. Thank you Shinji. I love you."

"I love you too."

Power suddenly began to flow through them both.

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"I don't believe this!" said Maya. "Both EVAs were down, but power is flowing through them both!"

"What?" said Ritsuko in surprise. "Both EVAs activated on no power!"

"That's not all," continued Maya. "Both EVAs have a sync of 500!"

"I don't believe this!" said Makoto. "Unit 01 is undergoing bio-fusion!"

"Is the Black Angel trying to fuse with Unit 01?"

"No!" said Shigeru. "Unit 01 is undergoing bio-fusion… with Unit 02!"

"Two EVAs merging together?" asked Misato.

"MAGI are 100 percent sure. The EVAs are merging into one!" said Makoto.

Gendo and Kozou were both out of their seats. "But that's impossible!" said the Vice-Commander. "EVAs can't fuse together!"

'What is going on?' thought Gendo.

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The two-headed dragon was surprised at the flash of light that was coming from both EVAs. They were both glowing white. The dragon decided to destroy what was happening before it was too late. The attack apparently had no effect at all.

The glowing figures had merged into one entity. The glow then began to fade. Everyone who was watching could just look in horror as to what took the place of Units 01 and 02. It had the ferocity that Unit 01 had in berserker mode, but had the multiple eyes of Unit 02, which made it look even scarier. It had red arms and legs, but a purple body and head.

Next, it grew 10 large spectral wings. It looked at the dragons with fury in its many eyes. The EVA roared with rage. The dragon did its combined fireball attack. But the newly fused EVA swatted the ball aside as if it were nothing. It advanced slowly upon the Black Angel its fireballs having no effect on the angry beast's AT Field. It grabbed both arms of the dragon with incredible speed. With a deadly kick, it ripped both arms off the Black Angel. It screamed out in pain as the EVA went up to it again. It began to punch the two head several times before beginning to strangle it.

The others could only watch in horror as the fused EVA began to throttle the beast's heads with one hand each. To sicken the plot, the dragon's necks were squeezed with so much force that the heads just popped off, and blood went everywhere. They couldn't look anymore. The EVA began to take what was left of it apart piece by piece. And finally it found the core, which it ripped out and crushed with no effort. The EVA roared once more, before going silent.

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"The Black Angel has gone silent. The Seal of Diablos has disappeared. The EVA has also gone silent," reported Maya.

"Reestablish communications now!" ordered Misato.

"We're trying, but there's no response from the… EVA," said Shigeru.

"We got something here," said Makoto. "But I can't make anything out of it."

"Have the MAGI find out what happened to Shinji and Asuka now!" ordered Ritsuko.

Gendo who was also watching just slumped back in his chair and thought, 'Yui, those two are in your hands now.'

"Ma'am! We have a problem!" said Makoto.

"What is it?" said Misato, who was in quite the panic.

"The MAGI can't find any sign of either pilot within the EVA," replied Makoto.

Misato just sunk to her knees in horror at the news. This was just like when Shinji was absorbed into Unit 01 before. But now, Shinji and Asuka were absorbed by this fused EVA.

Gendo decided to take command. "Have that EVA retrieved and placed in cryo-stasis. Focus all efforts on finding a way to recover the pilots. NOW!"

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"We have to bring that thing back? That thing absorbed Shinji and Asuka!" Elly was not happy at having to retrieve the fused EVA. "What if it goes nuts again! I don't want to be on the menu!"

"There's three of us," said Ivana. "And if it is acting on Shinji's and Asuka's thoughts, then we should be fine."

"Let's do this already," said Toji.

Slowly but surely they advanced to where the EVA was and the mess it made from mutilating the Black Angel. And just as slowly, they brought it back. Once the EVA was placed in the launching bay, it was cryo-frozen so it couldn't move again.

As Misato walked past the fused EVA in the bay, she could see its eyes, as if it came alive again. She just looked at it for a few seconds and broke down crying.

"Give me back my children you piece of shit!"

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Shinji woke up. "What happened?" he said aloud. He quickly realized he wasn't in an entry plug anymore. He was in some strange place, that looked a little like the middle of outer space. He remembered blacking out after telling Asuka he loved her.

He realized he was still in his plugsuit, and in some other place other than an entry plug. The last thing he felt before he blacked out was that felt that Asuka's mind, body, heart, and soul was merging with his own. The power was more than he could handle.

He looked around. He saw Asuka lying on the ground unconscious. She was also wearing her plugsuit too. "Asuka, wake up!" he said shaking her.

She began to moan and stir. She finally woke up. She had a look of shock onto her face. "Hey what are you doing in my entry plug?"

"Asuka, we're not in an entry plug. I'm not sure what happened to us. But whatever is going on, we have to find a way out of here," said Shinji.

"Well got any idea where the hell we are? Last thing I remember was this feeling that my body, mind, heart, and soul was merging with yours. Any idea what happened?"

Shinji shook his head. "The only thing I can think of is that the EVA may have absorbed us. That's what apparently happened to me last time."

"What? We're inside the EVA? How are we going to escape?"

"Who knows. Let's look around. Maybe we'll find the answer if we look around." Shinji gave a hand to Asuka to help her up.

"Sure. Beats staying in one spot."

A/N: And so begins Shinji and Asuka's adventure on how to escape from their fused EVA. Will they be able to escape? Find out next time! Until 33, be cool!


	33. Trapped

A/N: Well can you say scaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrryyyyy? Yeah, I would be scared too if I saw what happened last chapter. Asuka and Shinji's love for each other made their EVAs fuse into one super EVA that enabled them to defeat the Black Angel. And now they're trapped inside. How will they escape? Will they escape? Find out!

Oh and LegendarySuperNamek, the plush doll thingy, I actually got that from a few hilarious looking NGE pictures I saw on the Internet.

Now on with it!

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Misato's Apartment (2 days after Shinji and Asuka were absorbed by the fused EVA)

It had been a very slow two days. It just didn't feel right at all. Zack was trying his best to stay optimistic during the time they would have to wait for news on Shinji and Asuka's fate.

Misato had just about withdrawn into a shell since the incident. She would drink so much beer that she had passed out during the day and was sleeping at the table. Zack didn't even bother waking her up.

Ivana was not her usual training self either. She had also withdrawn herself as well. Her explanation was that she was taking a few days to mourn for her comrades. Zack knew it was hurting her more she made visible to them.

Hey he was hurting too. He just as much as the others didn't want to get a phone call from Ritsuko saying that they were dead or trapped forever inside the EVA. He tried his best to be optimistic for them all.

Rei was also not herself either. She had been dead silent for the last day and a half. And if you looked hard enough, you could see a hint of pain and sorrow in her eyes. Zack knew that Rei had difficulty understanding what she was feeling, and since she didn't know how to feel, that also hurt her as well.

Zack had taken the initiative and had made up some quick and easy meals and stored them all in the fridge. He knew the others were in no condition to cook. And he knew himself that it would only be so long before cooking would be too difficult for himself.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Everyone jumped at the phone, even Misato who was having another hangover just now. Zack got to the phone first. "Hello, Katsuragi residence."

"Zack?" It was Elly.

"What's up?" asked Zack.

"Can I come over for a bit? Please!" Zack could sense the sadness in Elly's voice.

"Okay. We're not doing anything right now. Life in this house has been brought to halt since you know…" he replied.

"Yeah. Okay, I'll be there in about 20 minutes."

After he hung up, Misato asked him, "Well did she anything about those two?"

Zack bowed his head down. "No, she didn't say anything. She's coming over though, we can ask her then." Zack knew Elly was hurting too

Misato afterwards began shaking violently. "Misato?" Zack called out. Suddenly Misato threw her arms around the ladies man and began to sob loudly. 'Good god. She's not taking this well at all.'

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Somewhere…

"I wonder where we're gonna end up," said Shinji trying to stay talkative.

"Who knows? We probably only know the EVAs about 75 percent less than we should know about them," replied Asuka.

Suddenly, the sight they saw ahead made Asuka gasp. "What is it Asuka? It looks like a city in front of us, although it probably is an illusion though."

"This city," she began. "This is where I met my good and dark sides."

She took off into the city, leaving Shinji behind. "Hey wait Asuka!" he said trying to catch up.

Wherever she was going, she was going awfully fast. It was everything Shinji had to keep up with her. He chased after her for a good two minutes. He was gonna finally give up from exhaustion when he saw Asuka stop in front of something.

"What is it Asuka?" he asked. She had apparently stopped in front of a photo booth.

"This photo booth," she started. "Is where it all began."

"I see," said Shinji. "But the dark side is gone now. You don't have to worry about it anymore."

"Thanks," she said.

"Hey Asuka!" a voice suddenly called out.

Shinji and Asuka turned in the direction of the voice. It was a red-head girl who was wearing their high school uniform and had gold angel wings. She also was about Asuka's height and body size as well.

Asuka was to be shocked once more. "Hey, it's you again!"

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NERV HQ – Computer Room (3 days since absorption)

Ritsuko typed away furiously at the computer. She stopped only to sip her coffee. She had only gotten 12 hours sleep in the past few days as she worked furiously to try to find out what happened to Shinji and Asuka. And Gendo Ikari ordered that no one was to go home until the two pilots were back, dead or alive. NERV had all sleeping quarters in the facility open, so the technicians would be able to get rest there, then go back to work.

What Ritsuko had learned so far had shocked her. The MAGI had told her that the fused EVA, which Commander Ikari had classified as Unit F-01, was way more powerful than any of the other EVAs by a long shot. Its AT Field capabilities were four times greater than the AT Field produced by the 17th Angel Tabris. Also, when the EVAs fused, the entry plug slots had disappeared, leaving the only logical way of escape impossible.

The other technicians, Maya, Makoto, and Shigeru were off sleeping. And everyone else was all depressed too. It just didn't seem the same without Shinji's cheerful attitude or Asuka's constant complaining about everything.

Ritsuko could only wait until the MAGI came up with information regarding Shinji and Asuka's whereabouts. This was far more serious than when Yui or Shinji was absorbed into Unit 01, because Unit F-01 was something they had never seen before. They may as well have been working with alien technology.

Suddenly, she got some information from the MAGI. She studied it carefully. Once she fully understood the information in front of her, it brought a big smile to her face.

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Misato's Apartment

Life was going by too slowly for Misato. The three days that had passed felt like three years to her. She had gone out to get more beer. Misato had full reason to hate those EVAs. It seemed like they wanted to take whatever humanity was left in the pilots. And now that Unit F-01 had literally taken two of the most important people in her life.

She had six empty cans of beer beside her on the table. She knew she should stop drinking or risk getting blood alcohol poisoning, but for the moment she didn't care. Hopefully she would pass out before that happened again.

It seemed like without Shinji and Asuka, life in the apartment was just not right at all. No one spoke to each other, Zack had even gone as far as prepare several meals in advance since he knew no one wanted to cook. All it did for Misato was make her miss Shinji even more. Shinji could always cook wonders and any mention of food reminded her of Shinji. And Asuka, Misato missed her complaining about just about anything and remembered how she was always making threats to people to not touch "her Shinji".

Suddenly, the phone rang. Misato rushed over to it as fast as her drunken body could take her. "Hello," she said with great effort to not sound drunk.

"How are you Misato?" It was Ritsuko.

"What the fuck do you think? Those kids are trapped and we don't even know if they're dead or alive!"

"Calm down Misato," said Ritsuko. "Besides, I have some news. This EVA has no entry plug so logical escape seems impossible, and it is more powerful then any other EVA."

"I couldn't give a rat's ass how powerful that piece of shit is!" shouted Misato.

"Hey I'm not done Misato," replied the doctor. "I also have some good news as well."

"And what would that be?" asked Misato.

"From all the information we have so far, they're alive."

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Somewhere inside Unit F-01

"Well Asuka, it's been a while," said her look-alike, known as Hikari-Asuka. "I knew you were up to it. And look at you now."

Asuka began to blush a little. "Thanks. It's been great ever since you met. So what happened to the bad version of myself."

Hikari-Asuka began to laugh. "Oh it was hilarious. You must have smacked her down good. She regressed back to a child. Lacking the power she had before, she was found by the police in this world and was adopted by some family, and now she's in kindergarten learning the alphabet again!"

This news made Shinji and Asuka laugh for a good minute. So Shinji spoke up once they were done. "So you're the one who helped Asuka during the tough times."

"Yes it was me," said Hikari-Asuka. Suddenly, realization came over her. "Say, we're in the city Asuka dreamed up, so why is Shinji here?"

Asuka relayed the information on what's been going on in the real world.

"I see, then this could be a problem."

"Why is that?" asked Shinji.

"I didn't say it was, I said it could," said Hikari-Asuka. "If Shinji is here, then portions of Shinji's thoughts could be here as well. Did something happen during your last battle?"

Now Shinji relayed the information about the Black Angels to Hikari Asuka. Now she had a look of realization on her face. "I see, then it's the only explanation."

"What is?" asked Asuka.

"Your EVAs, Unit 01 and Unit 02, must have fused together," said Hikari-Asuka. "It's the only explanation for Shinji to be here." She stopped to think again. "But something mustn't be right if you two got absorbed. The fusion was a result of your love. Perhaps some sort of contamination caused some sort of impurity with your fusion."

"What kind?" asked Shinji.

"What I mean is that those Black Angels are creatures of pure evil. The slightest touch could cause taint even the strongest soul."

"So what we have to do is find the taint and we'll be able to escape," said Asuka.

"That's the most logical explanation," said Hikari-Asuka. "I'll go look around. I have wings, so I can search for you. Just be patient until I get back. Have a look around until then."

So now Shinji and Asuka were all alone. Suddenly, Shinji felt something in his hand. It was a 100-yen coin. And that photo booth they were at cost 100-yen. "Hey Asuka. I got a 100-yen coin in my hand here. Want to get some photos? I know we're wearing our plugsuits, but why not?"

"Sure why not. This world is an illusion anyway. I guess it wouldn't hurt."

So they got into the photo booth. Three pictures later, they came back out. And after a minute, the booth spat out their photos.

They looked at the first one. The first one had a picture of Asuka sitting on Shinji's lap. Simple but sweet. The second photo had them both engaged in a very deep kiss. They both blushed at the sight and quickly went to the next picture. The sight of it shocked them both. It was a picture of a little girl. It looked like a child-female version of what Shinji may have looked like.

"What does it mean?" asked Shinji.

"How do you expect me to know? This photo booth is weird. Let's go for a walk somewhere. I'm sure Hikari-Asuka will be able to find us wherever we go."

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Streets of Tokyo-3 (5 days after absorption)

Zack noticed that Misato seemed to be in slightly better spirits since she learned that Shinji and Asuka were still alive although trapped inside the EVA. Everyone seemed to be a little happier since the news.

But they now missed Shinji and Asuka greatly. It had only been five days yet it felt like they had been gone forever. Zack had spent the day so far at Tim Horton's, drinking sorrows away with iced cappuccinos. He wouldn't likely be drunk like Misato, but he sure as hell would be wired. He also felt ready to do anything to get his best buddy back… and his bud's very bitchy girlfriend too…

"Waiter, another iced cappuccino please. More chocolate milk this time."

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Ivana had been jogging most of the day. She was trying to do everything possible to clear her mind of the sad thoughts that kept penetrating her mind. She missed her comrades greatly. It took everything she had to keep herself from crying. It would show weakness and her friends needed someone to be strong. Even now Zack had reduced himself to drinking iced cappuccinos. She knew even the cheerful Elly had been crying as she had only left NERV to go visit Zack at Misato's place. To Ivana's surprise, Elly happened to be in her path.

"Hey Ivana," she started. "Do you know where Zack is? Rei said he left the apartment a while ago."

"He's at the Tim Horton's," replied Ivana. "Looks like all of this finally got to him as well. School starts soon, so hopefully we'll get those two back before then."

Ivana watched as Elly took off in the direction of the Tim Horton's. "God, if you're out there, please return our comrades back to us."

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Misato's Apartment

Rei noticed that Misato had passed out again from excess drinking. She also noticed that Misato had the plush dolls of Shinji and Asuka with her. It really showed how much Misato missed those two. This also made Rei curious of the possible events that went on while Gendo was doing experiments on her or simply when she was at her apartment.

However, for reasons unknown, a voice in her mind was telling Rei that Shinji and Asuka would be just fine. Rei wasn't sure who the voice belonged to, but it was giving her a sense of comfort. This also gave Rei a bit more faith that Shinji and Asuka would return safe and sound.

Another idea hit her. Rei decided to make a little gift for the two missing pilots once they returned. She took out a piece of blank paper and a pencil, and began to draw a picture.

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Shinji and Asuka continued to explore the city. It was a neat city, even though it was an illusion created by Asuka's mind. As they were wandering in a park, they noticed many people at picnic tables in the park.

"Man, all of these people with food are making me hungry," said Asuka. "I wish we had some money."

"Well, there's nothing we can do," said Shinji. "Unless we ask someone to spare some change."

Suddenly, a voice called out to them. "Shinji? Is that you?"

Shinji turned to face the direction of the voice. There was a woman sitting down at a picnic table by herself. Asuka noticed that this person looked a lot like Shinji. It only took Shinji a moment, but he was able to register who it was. "Mother?"

"Shinji! It's you isn't it?"

"Mother!" Shinji ran over to the woman and hugged her.

"I'm so glad you're okay," said Yui. "When you got absorbed during the fusion, I feared the worst may have happened."

"What's going on?" asked Asuka. "You're Shinji's mother?"

"So you must be Asuka Langley Sohryu," said Yui. "I've heard a lot about you."

Yui explained that although they were in Asuka's world, because Unit 02 was fused with Unit 01, many of Shinji's traces were merged into this world, including Yui herself.

"But I'm glad I got to meet you face to face," said Yui. "I've also wanted to see what Asuka looked like first-hand."

"Well I think Shinji made an excellent choice if I do say so myself," said Asuka.

"I guess so," said Yui. "Anyhow, as glad as I am to see you, I wish to help you escape. There is a taint somewhere in this city, and you two must eliminate it if you wish to escape."

"Yeah, Hikari-Asuka said we had to get rid of something that caused us to be trapped inside."

"That's it," said Yui. "Once you do, you will be able to return to the real world and your EVAs will separate." Suddenly, Shinji's mother sensed something. "Something's coming, and whatever it is, it's evil!"

Suddenly, a ghost like creature came with a message. "If you desire for Hikari-Asuka to live, come to the Movie Theatre at Cinema 7 in one hour."

This made Asuka furious. "You son of a bitch! What have you done with her?"

"One hour," the ghost said before vanishing into thin air."

"This is bad," said Yui. "If something were to happen to Hikari-Asuka…"

"Then the dark side will likely return," said Asuka.

"Then we'd better smack this thing down," said Shinji.

"Well then what are you waiting for?" replied Asuka. "Let's go!"

A/N: I got a feeling this chapter will not be among my best works. I hope you readers understand that I'm almost fresh out of ideas. But I know I must keep going. Thanks for all your support so far and I will continue to try my absolute best to keep going. Until 34, be cool!


	34. Escape

A/N: What can I say? YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! 100 REVIEWS! Oh YES! THANK YOU ALL! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! You've helped me reach my goal of 100 reviews. Now to respond to the reviewers!

destinyfaith- Welcome back. I missed having you as a reviewer

chaoskirina- I had the dragon idea floating in my head for a while now. Glad you suggested it.

B123sedg- 100 reviews was really my goal. If I could, I would wire transfer you all money as thanks for reviewing.

Chiban-chan- Thanks for all your support. And thanks for the Black Angel ideas too.

VtraHex- I'm not sure about giving everyone special powers. My mind keeps fluctuating back and forth. I feel like John Kerry when I think about that. (Yes. No. Maybe.)

nick2951- Yeah, this is interesting. I hope this idea is an original as well

And to the rest of you, a deep thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now Shinji and Asuka have found a way to escape their predicament. Can they eliminate the one obstacle that prevents them from success? Find out now! On with it!

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NERV HQ – (6 days since absorption)

"So what else do you have so far?" asked Misato.

"Nothing much else really," replied Ritsuko. "It's almost like they're in another dimension or on another plane of existence. So it will be really difficult to find them. I've programmed the MAGI to be able to detect anything that matches Shinji or Asuka's genetic patterns." She showed Misato what looked like some sort of codes. "The MAGI will isolate anything that matches either of their genetic patterns."

Misato watched closely as Ritsuko searched furiously for any sign that they could be found. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, but it's bad news," replied Ritsuko.

"What would that be?" asked Misato

"Like I've said before, Unit F-01 has no entry plug, so the only way to get those two back is to separate the EVAs. And separating the EVAs appears to be in Shinji and Asuka's hands now."

"I see than," said Misato. 'Come on you two. Come back.'

Suddenly, the doctor was shocked. "What's this?" she said aloud. Then with further study she shook her head. "This is not good."

"What's going on?" asked Misato.

"I don't know why, but the MAGI are detecting a black waveform pattern from within the EVA. It could be a remnant of the Black Angels they fought 6 days ago."

"Oh shit, and they're trapped inside. They could come into contact with it."

"Exactly," said Ritsuko. "Who knows what could happen then. Hey! I'm picking up the kids' genetic patterns!"

"Really?"

"Yes! There they are!" Misato and Ritsuko could see their genetic patterns along the code seen on the computer. "Good, wherever they are, they're together, so they won't be alone if they run into the Black Angel."

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Misato's Apartment (Avoid the beer)

Rei was continuing to work on her gift for the two when they would come back. It was coming along very well according to Ivana. Ivana suggested that Rei should try colouring in the picture once she was done sketching it. So Rei had gone out to buy some coloured pencils to use for colouring.

Suddenly, a sense came to her. Was it a vision or something else? It only lasted a few seconds, but Rei was able to make out what she saw clearly. It was Shinji and Asuka, in their plugsuits, but no EVAs. And it seemed like they were going to fight something. Rei had seen two black silhouettes of what appeared to be two teenage girls. And nothing more after that.

Rei wasn't too worried though. It was as if she was already going to protect them even if she wasn't actually with them. The sense that she knew they would be fine brought a smile to her face. She then continued with her work.

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Inside the EVA

"Where's the movie theatre Asuka?" asked Shinji. The two pilots raced through the city as fast as they could so they could eliminate the evil presence that existed here.

"This way, come on!" replied Asuka. Asuka had been to this city before, so she recognized it very well. "There is no way that thing is gonna hurt Hikari-Asuka as long as I'm around. I vanquished the dark side once, and I DO NOT want to do it again!"

After a good deal of running, they arrived at their destination. Shinji noticed Asuka had something on her mind. "What is it Asuka?"

"Oh it's strange. The last time I was here to confront my dark side, there was nobody here when there usually would be lots of people here. And there's nobody here again."

"Maybe it's because you have a pure heart and nobody can stand the impurity so they stay away," replied Shinji.

"Wow, you're good at using your head when you really try," said Asuka. "Come on, let's get this over with!"

And so they entered inside with Shinji following Asuka. Asuka led him to Cinema 7. And so they went inside. There was a movie on too. Strangely enough, it was a movie about all the times Asuka would beat up Shinji, or a scene with them fighting and/or arguing.

In the 3rd aisle, Shinji and Asuka saw two girls laughing their faces off at what they are seeing. Asuka motioned for Shinji to go to one side of the aisle and she would go to the other side. Shinji agreed and he went to the far side. They walked down at the same pace until they were in the same aisle.

Asuka decided to get their attention. "Okay bitches, the jig is up!"

The two girls stopped laughing when Asuka got their attention. The lights came on. Their features were made apparent. Both had blonde hair and green eyes. One had a red dress on and the other had a blue dress on. They both appeared to be about seventeen year old twins.

"Well Ohlibah, it appears they have found us," said the girl in the red dress.

"Well they did come on time Oholah," said the girl in the blue dress.

Asuka was not in the mood for this. "Listen you stupid bitches! Who are you, and where is Hikari-Asuka?"

The girls began laughing. "They don't even know who we are!" said Oholah.

"And to think we were so greatly acquainted," said Ohlibah.

"Who are you?" asked Shinji.

"I guess I'd better tell you," said Oholah. "We are the Black Angels you tried to kill!"

"You?" asked Asuka.

"Yes we are. I'll have you know that getting ripped apart hurts you know! However a part of us must have latched on to you somehow," said Ohlibah. "But that doesn't matter, all that matters is that we're here."

"And now that you're here, said Oholah, we can take your bodies and escape to the real world."

"Like hell you're taking my body!" said Asuka. "This body is off-limits!"

"You have no choice," replied Ohlibah.

Suddenly, they were transported to an arena that was about twice the size of a wrestling ring.

"What are we gonna do Asuka?" asked Shinji.

"What do you think dummkopf? We're gonna fight! They're not nearly as powerful as they were before! We can take them!" said Asuka with confidence in her voice.

"Asuka! I can't hit a girl!" said Shinji. "It's morally wrong!"

"Fine!" said Asuka. "As a girl myself, I hereby give you permission to hit them then! So you'd better fight!"

"Hahaha! You two are so funny!" said Oholah. "I want the boy, you can have the bitch Ohlibah!"

"Fine with me," replied Ohlibah.

And so the battle began. Shinji wasn't much of a fighter, so he went with playing defense until he could find a way out of this. Asuka wasn't much of a fighter herself, but she was exchanging blows fairly well with Ohlibah.

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NERV HQ

"What's this?" said a shocked Ritsuko.

"What's going on now?" asked Misato.

"There's a lot of activity going on in the EVA," replied the doctor. "There's a conflict going on between the black waveform pattern and Shinji and Asuka's genetic patterns."

"Does that mean…"

"Yes they're locked in mortal combat. Only a miracle can come out of this."

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Rei had sensed something again. This time, it was… conflict, between two opposing forces. Somehow, she knew that Asuka and Shinji were locked in combat with whatever was trapping them inside the EVA.

"So it has begun," she said into the air.

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Stress does a lot of things to the body. One of those things was amplify senses temporarily. This stress sped up Shinji's reflexes as Oholah kept up a fury of punches and kicks. She was a wearing a dress, but it wasn't slowing her down any. Suddenly, she caught him with his guard down, and he took it between the eyes. The impact knocked him down. She was about to smash his ribs with her heel, but he quickly rolled out of the way and made his way back to his feet.

Stress, was amplifying Asuka's reflexes as well. She was able to dodge Ohlibah's punches and counter back with some attacks of her own. Asuka did have to admit she wasn't used to doing this without an EVA, but then again, the Black Angels were weaker too without the power they once had. Asuka managed to kick Ohlibah in the chest hard, but was caught off guard by Ohlibah's spinning back kick that she pulled. Asuka was hit in the back of the head and went down.

"No, Asuka!" shouted over the chaos of the fighting. He rushed over to help her. But Oholah was in his way.

"Sorry little boy, you're dealing with me. Ohlibah will see that she gets her just desserts."

That was all it took. Oholah never saw the storm coming. Shinji clenched his fists and launched a furious and almost deadly assault on Oholah. She had no chance against his flurry of punches.

After about ten or twelve constant punches, Oholah went down with a thud. This even got Ohlibah's attention.

"Oholah! You'll pay for that you little brat!" Now Ohlibah had focused on Shinji. Shinji got ready to take down Ohlibah.

She attacked him with a punch, kick, trip combination. Shinji blocked the punch, ducked the kick, and dodged the punch. Then hit back with a kick, kick, and… vanish?

Ohlibah had lost sight of him. Suddenly, she felt someone grab her arms and trapped her in an arm lock from behind. "Now Asuka!" Shinji shouted.

Ohlibah looked in front of her. There was Asuka, back on her feet. Ohlibah had no chance to defend herself from what was coming next.

Now both girls were beaten black and blue. "We've smacked you down! Now release Hikari-Asuka!" ordered Asuka.

Oholah and Ohlibah slowly made their way back to their feet. "We're not done yet," said Oholah. "Once we use the Seal of Diablos, you two are done."

"I beg to differ." Yui appeared. "As for you two, I sentence you to suffer for eternity." Yui pointed a hand at the Black Angels. Suddenly, a force which the demons could not withstand came from her hand, slowly erasing them from existence.

With that, the Black Angels were gone. Asuka was worried though. "What happened to Hikari-Asuka?"

"I'm right here!" Asuka's look-alike with wings made herself known. "You two did well to vanquish the Black Angels."

"Great job you two," said Yui. "If I couldn't sense your determination, I would have never been able to find you."

This made Shinji and Asuka blush. Shinji then spoke up. "So is it possible to escape now?"

"Yes it is," said Yui. "I can feel my presence in this world fading away."

Shinji got scared. "Mother don't leave."

Yui gave her son a hug. "Don't worry, I'll always be in Unit 01, to protect you. I'll see you again." She faded away. But Shinji doesn't break down though. He apparently feels fine because he got to embrace his mother, one thing he hadn't done in a long time.

"Well Asuka, I guess it's time to head back," he said.

"We can go in a second, but I just wanted to give you something for helping me out back there. Something you've rightfully earned, and something I was going to give you anyway."

Asuka then plants a passion filled kiss on Shinji's lips. Shinji also returned her fire.

They were so lost in their kiss that they were totally unaware of what was happening around them. The scenery starting changing too.

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NERV HQ

Ritsuko was surprised at what she was seeing. "The black waveform pattern has disappeared!"

"Wow, they did it," said Misato.

Maya then spoke up. "Doctor, the matter making up Unit F-01 is breaking down!"

"We're receiving property readings on Units 01 and 02 again," said Shigeru.

"The EVA is separating!" said Makoto.

Everyone watched as the fused EVA began to glow white. Then, they were all blinded by a large flash of light. When the light disappeared, they checked in the examination bay. Just as they had hoped, both EVAs had returned from being fused into one being.

"Where are the kids?" asked Misato.

"They're uh… both in Unit 01," said Maya. She was shocked by the image she was seeing "You shouldn't look at this."

"Look at what?" Misato rushed over to see what it was. She almost dropped her beer at what she saw.

It was Shinji and Asuka all right. Making out in the entry plug! They were getting hot and heavy in there too! After about 3 seconds, Misato had about all she could have. She opened up a com to Unit 01 "Hey you two! Can't you find a better place to try new positions?"

Shinji and Asuka were snapped back into reality by Misato's remark. Then Asuka got really mad. "Hey you were peeking Misato? YOU ARE DISGUSTING!"

A/N: Well, this chapter was short, but you all seem to be liking this anyway. Well, soon the kids are going into high school. Also, the Father-son chapter between Shinji and Gendo is also in the near future as well. I want to have more fun things happen as well, so I'm going to drag out the attacks of the Black Angels and replace those probably with other problems. Until 35, be cool!


	35. Welcome Home!

Well, this chapter is not a battle chapter. Enjoy some of the happier moments of this fic. On with it!

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Misato was ecstatic when the two pilots stepped out of the entry plug in seemingly very good health. Even though they had the smell of LCL, she didn't care. She hugged them both, and appeared to have no plans of letting them go.

Once she finally did let go, Asuka was even more confused than ever. "What was that for? We weren't gone that long!"

"Quite the contrary," interjected Ritsuko. "You two were trapped inside for about six days now."

"Six days?" said a surprised Shinji. "But to us, it only felt like a couple of hours."

Ritsuko thought for a moment and then came up with a theory. "Well, I'll assume that within the EVA, you two were in like another dimension, where time is much slower. That explains why it felt like it was only so short to you two."

"So when can we go home?" asked Asuka.

"You two can go shower and clean up. I just want to make a few examinations to make sure everything is fine."

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Gendo Ikari's Office

Gendo had just heard the news about the pilots' sudden return. "Hmm, so there was nothing we could have done."

"Apparently so," replied Fuyutski. "Those children are amazing. We could never pull off the wonders they continue to shock us with."

Now that Gendo knew his son was fine, he could continue his planning to spend a day with his son, and find out what life for the boy was like. He only hoped it would work. He decided to inquire into other matters. "How is the search for SEELE coming along?"

"Still no sign of them," said Fuyutski.

"I see. And the Black Angels are officially eliminated too. So, the only thing to do is conduct business as normal and wait for the other Black Angels to show up."

Just then, Dr. Akagi had walked into the room. She had just finished giving Shinji and Asuka an examination.

"Dr. Akagi, what is the status of Pilots Ikari and Sohryu?" asked Gendo.

"Apparently, they're just fine. Their health wasn't affected at all by being in the EVA for six days. The only thing they were was hungry." She handed him the medical reports so he could look over them himself.

"Good, you are dismissed," said Gendo. In response, Ritsuko walked out. As she walked out Gendo thought to himself 'Thank you Yui for bringing Shinji back.'

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Misato's Apartment – Just Outside

The two pilots were happy to be at home again. Once Misato opened the door, she seemed surprised for a minute.

"What's wrong Misato?" asked Asuka.

"It's odd. All the others were here when I left not long ago. Even Toji and Elly were here too. But the lights are out and no one is here."

Not knowing what else to think, the trio entered the apartment as they always would, taking off their shoes, then setting about to do whatever activities they wished.

"I need a beer," said Misato as she went towards the kitchen. "Hey Shinji, why don't you make something to eat? It's been so long since you've made something."

"Ok, sure," replied Shinji as he went into the kitchen as well.

To their shock, the lights came on! "SURPRISE!" was the yell they heard next, totally startling the three. There was Zack, Rei, Ivana, Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, and Elly! They were all in the kitchen with a large cake on the table. There was a large banner that said "WELCOME BACK ASUKA AND SHINJI".

"What's going on here?" asked a still somewhat startled Asuka and Shinji.

"We missed you both so much," started Elly.

"So we made this party just for you," said Ivana.

"Because we missed you both so much," said Hikari.

"The Three Stooges just aren't the same without you," said Kensuke. "And Asuka too."

"Yeah, the other boys aren't fun to flirt with," said Elly.

"So what do you think?" asked Zack.

Shinji and Asuka were speechless. Neither of them knew what to say.

Shinji tried to speak up. "Wow. You did all this just for us?"

Zack put in a headlock. "Hey, you're our buddy. And this shows how glad we are to have you two back. Besides, take a look at the top of the cake."

In response, the two looked at the cake. There were two wax figurines on top of the large, rectangular three layer cake. It was figurines of Shinji and Asuka holding hands. Of course, the two were fairly embarrassed.

Asuka looked at Zack with a menacing glare. "You made those? You sicko!"

Zack raised his hands in defense. "Hey, it wasn't me; it was Hikari who made those!"

Asuka turned to Hikari with a look of happiness in her eyes. "Wow Hikari, you were quite the artist! I never knew you were so good."

This compliment on her artwork made Hikari blush. "Aww Asuka, I'm not actually that good. It was actually Elly's idea; she just couldn't do it herself."

Toji took this moment to speak. "So let's eat now, shall we?"

And so, everyone started eating a slice of the chocolate cake. It quickly became a universal agreement that the cake was definitely awesome. That night became a tale of how it was like merged with the EVA, being trapped inside, and their escape.

"So it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be," said Shinji.

Misato had something to say. "By the way Asuka, there were three photos found in Unit 02's entry plug." She showed them to Asuka. "Have any idea where these came from?"

Asuka took a look at the photos. **They were the same ones that her and Shinji had taken in the photo booth within the EVA**. "No, I've never seen these before," she tried to lie.

Zack quickly snatched the photos out of her hand. "Lemme see!" He looked at the first one with no change in his expression. When he looked at the second photo, he snickered loudly. By now, Asuka's face had gone red and was ready to beat him down. But when Zack looked at the third photo, he was shocked. "_What the hell_?" he said in English. "This little girl looks like Shinji!"

The third photo was passed around to the others. Each one except Rei had a boggled look of confusion in their eyes. And finally, the picture got around to Elly. "Wow. Is this like some picture of the future? Is this Shinji's child in the future? She looks so cute!"

"Does this mean Asuka is gonna one day bear Shinji's child?" said Zack aloud. This resulted in three bops on the head for the Canadian. One from Ivana, Misato, and Asuka.

"Lucky you Shinji," said Toji.

"At least we know Shinji will get some one of these days!" said Kensuke.

Poor thing to say on both of their parts. Hikari gave them both a simultaneous whack on the heads. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves and your dirty thoughts!"

Now Zack, Toji, and Kensuke bowed their heads in shame, and in pain, while everyone else shared a heartfelt laugh.

Rei then remembered something. "Shinji and Asuka. I… made this for you," she finally said. She then produced something in a gold picture frame. Shinji and Asuka looked at it with awe. It was a sketching done of the both of them.

"Wow Rei, this is amazing," said Shinji.

"This is good Wondergirl," said Asuka. "What inspired you to be an artist in six days?"

"I do not know," the albino replied. "I just felt like I wanted to draw a picture because I knew the two of you would like it."

"Thanks Rei," said Shinji.

"We can hang it up in the apartment," said Misato. "It's a fabulous picture."

Once everyone had their share of cake, they prepared to go home. Shinji and Asuka thanked the others greatly and they left. Now the only people left were Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Zack, and Ivana.

Suddenly the phone rang. Zack went to answer. "Hello." A pause while Zack listens. "Yeah, he's right here. Star of the moment too." Another pause. "Whoa easy man! I'll put him on." He gives the phone to Shinji. "It's your father Shinji."

Shinji was surprised to get a phone call from his father of all people. But then again, Gendo had been slowly changing, and for the better too.

"Hello," said Shinji.

"How are you son?" Gendo asked.

"Good I guess."

"How is Yui?"

Shinji was surprised for a minute that Gendo knew he had seen his mother. But he then figured the Supreme Commander would simply assume he had seen his mother since she was absorbed in Unit 01 and so had he. "She's as well as one could be, being inside Unit 01 and all."

"I see." Gendo then changed the subject. "Are you busy tomorrow?"

"No. Why?"

Gendo was silent for a few seconds. "I haven't exactly been much of a father to you. I wish to try and make up for lost time. I propose we spend the day together tomorrow, so we can get to know each other like we should have. Are you up for this?"

Shinji nearly choked on his own breath from the proposition his father had made. His father had ruined the last ten years of his life, and he was apparently trying to make amends. Shinji also knew deep in his heart that everyone did deserve redemption at the same time. Even if his father was an asshole, he should also have his chance at redemption. "Alright Father. If you want to, it's fine with me."

"Good. I'll come by your place at 11:30 tomorrow morning. Goodbye." Gendo then hung up.

Now Asuka was curious. "So what did the Bastard King at NERV want?"

"He wanted to get to know me better. He wanted to hang out with me for the day tomorrow," replied Shinji.

Misato accidentally spat out her beer in shock. "Are you serious? That asshole wants to spend a day with you Shinji? The boy he deliberately abandoned?"

"Well yeah, that's what he said," replied Shinji. "He said he'd be coming by at 11:30 tomorrow morning."

"Wow," said Zack. "I thought Mr. High and Mighty would never soil his shoes by setting foot in this ghetto. Maybe the pressure of the Black Angels got to him."

This got everyone laughing.

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NERV HQ – Gendo Ikari's Office

Gendo Ikari's plan was going to according to plan. It was a simple to easy to do plan. Maybe. A day with the son he has treated like a monkey wrench for years. Now he would have the chance to start making up for that. He sent Fuyutski a memo telling him he would be in charge for the day tomorrow.

Now what would he do with his son for tomorrow? They would start with an old fashioned game of 10-pin bowling. Then they could go to a ramen cart for lunch. Then they could just walk around and talk about things in life that intrigued them. Once that was done, Gendo would probably take his son to a bar, and tell him about his life before he met Yui. A part of him hoped he would somehow get into a fight like he used to. A smile crept to his face when he thought about all the guys he beat up in the past.

Yes, that would be the set plan for tomorrow. He then got up from his desk and planned to go home for the night to retire.

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Misato's Apartment

It was late and everyone was getting ready to retire for the night. Shinji and Asuka were getting ready for bed. To Asuka's surprise, Casanova (Zack) hadn't leaked to Hikari that she was sharing a bed with Shinji. Hikari always said that was living in sin. But Asuka would never let it go farther than that. And she doubted that Shinji wouldn't make it that far before passing out.

Shinji was getting ready for bed as well. He had finished brushing his teeth and was on his way to bed. He saw Asuka there waiting for him. "Ready for bed?" he asked.

"Certainly. It's been six days since we slept in a bed."

Shinji then crawled in next to her. Asuka then wrapped her arms around him. "Wow, I've forgotten how warm you are."

"Same here. Good night Asuka."

"Good night Shinjikins," she replied. She then gave him a goodnight kiss and slowly drifted off to the world of slumber.

A/N: Okay, I know this was a short chapter, but I couldn't think of much else to do at the time. According to the time I see here, it's 1:40am right now. So you can see I'm tired. This chapter will spill over into the next chapter. Tomorrow is the chapter some of you have been expecting! The Father-son day for Shinji and Gendo. Will it go over well? Or will it be a disaster! The only way to know, is to find out when the next update comes! Until then, be cool!


	36. Anyone can be redeemed

A/N: Well the day some of you have waited for, or feared is here! Gendo and Shinji's Father-Son Day! What will happen? On with it!

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Shinji's dream

Shinji didn't know where he was. But wherever he was, it sure was odd. It seemed like a peaceful place. It was almost identical to Tokyo-3 before the Angels had first arrived. So he went pacing around, to see what his curious mind would find. Perhaps he would find Asuka, or his friends Toji and Kensuke.

However, his mind was drawn by another sight. It was a girl with mahogany coloured hair sitting on a bench in the nearby park. Shinji decided to get a closer look. He was now confused, as the sight before him was Mana Kirishima! 'But she's dead!' he thought to himself. 'What's going on here?'

Apparently, the girl who looked like Mana sensed Shinji's approach. She turned around to face Shinji. To Shinji's shock, she had a look of absolute fear and pain.

"SHINJI! HELP!" she shouted out. Suddenly, a black shadow came. It threatened to engulf Mana. She tried to resist, but she was being swallowed up by the black abyss. "HELP ME SHINJI!" she cried again.

Shinji rushed over to help her. But he was too late. It had already swallowed her up. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. It was apparently some sort of floating blob like substance. It moved to smother him…

Next thing he knew, he was in his bedroom, panting heavily. "Just a dream," he told himself, trying to calm himself down. He checked the time. It was 2:19am. He heard the sound of someone moaning. Then felt the weight of another person half-way on top of him. It was Asuka, and she was wide awake. "Had a nightmare Shinji?" she whispered.

"Yeah," he whispered back. "It was strange, and scary too."

Asuka sat up on the futon. "Well why don't you tell me and Asuka will chase the scary dream away."

Shinji also sat up began to relay the dream to Asuka. Asuka was definitely surprised about the part with Mana screaming for help. Then the part where Mana got swallowed up by a shadow, and the part where Shinji got smothered by a blob creature.

"That is weird. Mahogany-Head calling for help. I figured that bitch was dead as could be," said Asuka. "That is definitely strange."

"So I guess we can go back to sleep now," said Shinji.

"Yup, and don't worry. I'll chase away any scary monsters and bad dreams okay?"

Shinji chuckled a little. "Okay Asuka, you can chase away the monsters. Good night." He laid back down on their futon.

"Goodnight Shinji," replied Asuka. She kissed him goodnight, and rested her head on his chest again.

Shinji took Asuka in his arms. Eased by the company and comfort of the German, he quickly found his way back to sleep. It was an important day today, as Shinji was going to spend the day with his father. So he wanted to get as much rest as he could.

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Later that morning – Beware the hung over Misato

"Wonder why Shinji isn't up yet," said Zack. "Not really like him to be sleeping in. We need real food for breakfast."

"Then why don't you go wake him up?" suggested Ivana. "That way we could eat something."

"Good point. Rei, go wake up Shinji for us. And Asuka can be woken up too I guess."

"Understood." Rei then got up from her seat and proceeded to where Shinji and Asuka were sleeping. She never saw the look of disgust Ivana had given Zack when he told Rei to wake the two up. Once she opened the door, she saw Asuka and Shinji sleeping in what could only be described as bliss.

"Shinji. Asuka. Wake up," she said to the sleeping lovers.

Shinji and Asuka moaned, and slowly awoke from their respective slumbers. "Good morning Rei," said Shinji.

"Morning Wondergirl," said Asuka. She checked the clock. It was 9:30am. "Wow, we slept in today."

"You two don't normally sleep in," replied Rei.

"Well we found out last night that the Invincible Shinji is capable of getting nightmares too."

"Whatever. I'll go make something now." Shinji and Asuka then slowly proceeded to the kitchen where Zack and Ivana awaited.

"About time!" said Zack. "Well Shinji, you slept in. I figured Asuka kept you up all night with the new moves she wanted to try! Maybe she wants to bear your child!"

Asuka went red at this remark. She was ready to kick Zack's ass when Ivana's fist met his head before Asuka's did. Zack quickly shut up.

"Thank you Ivana for putting Casanova in his place," said Asuka.

"No problem. I am always willing to help out a comrade," replied the Russian. "So what is for breakfast?"

Shinji looked over his ingredients before making a decision. "From the looks of things, we are having eggs, toast, and sausages." Everyone didn't mind the blandness of the meal. If it was Shinji cooking, it will taste excellent no matter what.

Just then, Misato came out of her room in a familiar state. A hangover. She got into her routine, of getting a beer, chugging half the can, yelling really loud, followed by a burp. "That's the way to start your morning! Wow, Shinji's cooking! This'll be exciting!"

Once Shinji had finished cooking, they all sat down to eat. It was almost like a pig-out! The others all ate like pigs, except Rei and Ivana, who ate with some etiquette.

Misato then remembered something. "Say Shinji. Isn't your father coming today?"

"Yeah, that's what he said. He'd be here at 11:30am," replied Shinji.

"Then I advise you be ready by then. He'll be here at 11:30 sharp. That is absolute."

"Okay," replied Shinji. "I'm gonna go use the shower so I'll be ready." And with that, he left for the bathroom.

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NERV HQ

Rumours were quickly spreading about. Word had it that Commander Ikari was taking the day off and Vice-Commander Fuyutski would be in charge for the day.

"Wow, Commander Ikari is out today," said Shigeru. "So what'll we do today?"

"There isn't much we really can do," said Makoto.

Maya had an idea. "Hey I know. Why don't we work on the plush dolls? I have some new ones set up. I've made some more Shinji, Asuka, and Rei dolls. There are also the Misato dolls, and the ones of us."

"Great idea," replied Shigeru. "How about we also make dolls of, Toji, Ivana, Zack, and Elly? And we could also make a doll of Dr. Akagi as well."

"Yeah! Let's do it!" said Makoto. "We made quite a bit of money last time!"

"We can use that empty room as well in NERV to sell our dolls in there," said Maya. But then a thought hit her. "What doll will we use for the draw this time? We can't use Commander Ikari again."

"How about Vice-Commander Fuyutski?" Shigeru suggested.

"Great! Now we're ready to rock!" said Makoto.

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"Behold the ticking clock!" said Zack as they all waited for Gendo to arrive. It was 11:25 and they were waiting for the Commander to show up and get Shinji.

"Wow Zack. You've managed to make the ticking of a clock VERY irritating," replied Misato.

"Hey. Just saying it like it is."

Misato then had a few words for Shinji. "Shinji, whatever happens, don't be scared. Answer every question he asks you, even if your answer sounds stupid. And remember, the asshole IS trying to make amends, so be understanding. And most importantly," she said with a wink. "Have fun."

"Okay Misato," said Shinji.

"I hope you're ready Shinji," said Asuka. "It's not everyday someone goes into the belly of the beast!"

"He'll be fine!" replied Zack. "He sleeps with the beast every night!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Asuka threw a pillow off the couch at Zack. Zack catches it and throws it right back. However his aim is off and he hits Ivana in the head.

"OH SHIT!" Zack runs into the kitchen to get away from Ivana. Ivana takes the pillow and whips it at Zack, catching him in the back of the head and taking him down.

"So Misato," started Shinji. "What will you do today?"

"I'll take the girls… and him out for a day on the town."

Then it was 11:29am. Zack was also back on his feet and counting the seconds. "10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Showtime!"

Right as Zack said Showtime, the doorbell rang. Everyone's head turned to the door. "I believe you should answer it Shinji," said Rei.

Shinji slowly got up off the couch and went to the door. Everyone quietly followed behind. Shinji then slowly opened the door. As expected, there was a person waiting outside the door. It was his father, Gendo Ikari!

"Hello… Father," said Shinji.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yeah. Let's go." And Shinji shut the door behind him and off father and son went.

"There never was a braver man," said Zack.

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Shinji followed his father into the elevator. For now, it was dead silent. But Shinji, who was downright nervous, decided to ask the first question. "So Father, uh what are we doing first?"

"I have decided we will do a pastime I used to enjoy when I was your age." By now, the elevator had reached the bottom. The two exited the building. Outside, was a limousine, with the chauffeur who was waiting outside for them.

"Where to Commander?" asked the chauffeur.

"The Kingpin Bowling Alley," replied Gendo. Then they got going. It was a dead silent trip from the start. It appeared neither side knew what to say to the other. This tension continued back and forth for a few minutes until they arrived at their destination about ten minutes later.

So Gendo and Shinji got out of the limo and proceeded to enter the building. Once they had paid for a lane and shoes to rent, they got ready to get started. "Enter names for us," said Gendo. "Then we'll get started. I trust you know how to play."

"Yes I do," said Shinji. He decided to enter his idea of names for both of them.

Gendo/Boss: 0

Shinji/01: 0

And so the game got started, with Gendo bowling the first ball. They were playing 10-pin, so the balls would be rather heavy. Gendo threw his first ball. He managed to knock down eight of the ten pins on the first throw. Gendo then on his next throw knocked down the remaining two pins for a spare.

"Your turn," the elder Ikari said. Shinji picked up a ball. To him, a 14lb ball was VERY heavy for him. He launched the ball down the lane. But due to the ball's weight, accuracy was to have no factor in Shinji's throw. The ball went into the gutter.

Shinji went to retrieve another ball to take his second shot when Gendo called out to him. "Shinji. Take this ball."

Shinji received the ball from his father. It was much lighter than the ball he shamefully sent into the gutter. He took aim and rolled his ball. It went straight on the path he intended and knocked out all ten pins.

"Not bad," said Gendo. "Perhaps you should stick to the lighter balls."

"But with a lighter ball, it means less weight striking the pins and a weaker chain reaction," said Shinji.

"But you cannot control a heavy ball. And with a lighter ball, you can have more control over your throws than with a heavy ball. Power is not everything."

Shinji was amazed at the wisdom just given to him. "Wow. I never thought of that."

"If we weren't in a world with EVAs, maybe you would have had the chance to go bowling sooner," said Gendo with a touch of regret in his voice. He picked up his ball and took his turn.

This game carried on until both Ikaris had each done ten lanes of bowling. Unfortunately for Shinji, his father had won 245-128. Once they returned the rented bowling shoes, Shinji was curious as to what they would do next. "Father? What are we going to do next?"

"Let's go find a place to have lunch," said Gendo. He already knew where the ramen cart was.

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Misato, Asuka, Ivana, Rei …and Zack were out for the day on the town. Hopefully, with Zack being outnumbered four to one, he would be able to behave himself.

"So my lovely ladies, what shall we do first?" asked Zack. "I say we have an adventure called 'Zack's Sexy Adventures!"

"Misato, why did we have to bring HIM?" asked Asuka. "We could just dump him at NERV."

"But then he would have "Sexy Adventures" with Elly," said Ivana. "And the two reasons we brought him along is: he's Misato's responsibility, and the second reason we brought him along is so he would be kept in line."

"It's not so nice when you put it that way," said Zack with sadness in his voice. Suddenly, something caught his attention. "What the hell!"

Everyone looked in the direction Zack was looking in. It was a poster. But on the poster were Ritsuko's employees: Shigeru, Makoto, and Maya! The poster read: NERV Plush Central! New plush dolls coming soon! And new draw for Special Edition plush doll also coming soon!

"Sweet," said Zack. "Maybe I'll get the entire set when it comes out!"

"Not those again." Misato was so embarrassed when she first saw the doll of herself.

"I remember Shinji and Asuka's reactions when they got plush dolls of the other," said Zack remembering the days when he first came.

"I heard about that," replied Ivana. "Especially the threats Asuka made to Shinji should he handle the doll in ways he shouldn't."

"Yeah, I bet he handles the real thing in ways he shouldn't!"

BONK! Asuka had hit Zack in the back of the head and knocked him out cold.

"I have an idea," said Misato. "Let's go mini-putting!"

"That seems fun," said Rei, who had been silent for most of the time outside the apartment.

"Yeah, it's better than listening to Casanova here," replied Asuka.

So they went for the golf course, with Ivana dragging an unconscious Zack with her.

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A random ramen cart (Yes it's random! Behold the powers of random!)

Gendo and Shinji were at a cart each having a bowl of ramen for lunch.

"Wow, this ramen is way better than the ramen Misato makes," said Shinji.

"What is wrong with Major Katsuragi's?" asked Gendo.

"The problem is that Misato uses instant ramen and somehow she always makes it taste horrible. It was so bad one time Zack and Rei got food poisoning. Luckily they got better before the sync tests otherwise it would have shown up on their scores and Misato would be in serious trouble."

"I see," said Gendo. He wondered how they had survived this long with Misato's cooking. He remembered that he and Yui used to split cooking jobs when they were married. "Is the cooking job split evenly in the household?"

"Yeah it is," replied Shinji. "Everyone cooks once a week. But I cook twice since they all love my cooking. When I'm cooking, I feel like a king overseeing his kingdom, and wanting it to look great by throwing all sorts of twists on it."

"Very good," said Gendo. "I have a question for you though."

"What is it?" asked Shinji. His father asking him a question?

"When you were absorbed into Unit F-01, did you see your mother?"

"Yes I did. She helped us escape as well when Asuka and I had to fight the Black Angels who somehow had found their way inside."

'That explains the nearly impossible escape then,' he thought. 'Yui is still protecting her child. The way a parent should.'

After finishing up their ramen lunches, Gendo then motioned for Shinji to follow him. And so Shinji did. They walked around and about, but Shinji had no idea where his father was leading him.

His father definitely wasn't the coldhearted jerk Shinji had came to know and very much despise now. This same father abandoned him when he was four years old. Now he didn't seem so bad after all. Perhaps he is now regretting his actions. He probably wasn't sure how to talk to someone he left out to dry ten years ago.

Shinji then noticed that his father had stopped in front of a bar after walking about for ten minutes. "Father, why are we going into a bar? I'm only 14!"

"Relax. We're going in," replied his father in a calm and cool voice.

So into the bar Shinji went with his father. As expected once they got inside, the bartender raised a fit about Gendo bringing Shinji in. But of course, Gendo kept his cool. Gendo then flashed his card at the bartender and he shut up within a nanosecond of seeing the card's credentials.

Gendo then ordered a beer for himself and a coke for Shinji. The two then sat down in a booth. "Much better," said Gendo after taking a sip of beer. "This is a much more relaxing environment," said Gendo in the still crisp and cool voice.

He then had another question for Shinji. "How is your relationship with Asuka?"

"She's actually a good person if you can get her to open up to you. She's smart, beautiful, and she is probably the best thing to ever come into my life. I love her Father."

"I'm proud of you Shinji. Even after the hell I put you through; you have still managed to find the light within the darkness."

"Thanks Father. And you also, are moving towards the light. Everyone can be redeemed for their wrongdoings."

Gendo was silent as the thought of being able to be redeemed. He assumed he was a damned fool who was on a one-way trip to Hell with no chance of being able to return. "Perhaps. But I tried to play God. And there is no forgiveness for that."

"Father! Everyone can be forgiven! Even you! As long as they regret the bad decisions they make and try their best to not do such acts again, they can be redeemed!"

Gendo was shocked for a moment. He then realized Shinji was right. "You're right Shinji. I can be redeemed. Thank you for showing me this."

"You're welcome Father," said Shinji with a smile.

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"What a day that was," said Misato. "Mini-putting sure was fun though."

"I can't believe Rei beat us all," replied Asuka.

"It all is simply angles and levels of power," said Rei. "Not much more was necessary."

"I was trying to tell you that Asuka," said Ivana. "Maybe if you had listened, you wouldn't have had the worst score. I really expected more from a college graduate."

"WHAT?"

"And maybe if you didn't have Shinji-on-the-brain, your play would have been half-decent," uttered Zack. He was just asking for it.

"Would you shut up Casanova?" yelled Asuka.

"Maybe if you ask him really nicely, he'll let you bear his child!"

That was it. Asuka picked up an unopened can of beer and threw it at Zack's head. Zack of course, blocked the can-turned projectile. But Zack did not expect what happened next. Asuka then advanced on him quickly. Before he could react, Asuka brought her foot up between his legs, and hit the spot she intended to kick.

A wet crack could be heard, followed by a yell of pain, then a weight hitting the floor. Asuka had sacked Zack for his annoying comments that he had been making all day. And this was the last straw. There was no pity for Zack. Everyone left the room and waited for Shinji to come home.

The doorbell rang. Rei went to answer the door. Of course it was Shinji, as expected.

"Welcome home Shinji," greeted Rei. "How was your day with Commander Ikari?"

"It was alright," replied Shinji. He noticed Zack on the ground in an apparently large amount of pain. "What happened to Zack?"

"He was apparently making some inappropriate comments to Asuka and in return she kicked his groin area."

Shinji chuckled. "That would do it."

Shinji then followed Rei into the kitchen where he was greeted by the apartment's other females. They seemed to be glad to see him. Shinji told them all about the day he spent with his father. Nobody paid attention to Zack when he limped into the kitchen, grab some ice and a Ziploc bag to make an ice pack, and then limp back out.

Later that night, Shinji and Asuka were getting ready for bed. Asuka was still curious about how Shinji could actually make Commander Ikari seem to not be so bad. As the two laid down on the futon, Asuka decided to inquire a little further into the events Shinji went through.

"Wow. You may have started to melt that bastard's cold heart Shinji. How do you do it?" asked Asuka after Shinji finished telling her the story.

"Well, I decided to just be myself," replied Shinji. "And things just happened."

"See what happens when you try? You'd be surprised at what you can do." She rolls so she's on top of him. "See what happens when you get some balls. You can change the world."

"Speaking of balls, does Zack still have balls?"

This got both of them laughing. "If he's lucky, he'll still be able to father children. I should've worn Ivana's steel toe shoes so I could've kicked his balls out the back of his head."

Shinji chuckled at Asuka's remark. "You know, there were numerous time where I wanted to do that to my father.

Asuka then spoke up. "Let's get some sleep now." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him goodnight. "Good night Shinjikins."

"Good night Asuka," said Shinji. Shortly the two pilots/lovers fell asleep.

A/N: Well, I did try my best to keep Gendo IC. I got this feeling some of you won't think so. Insight will be appreciated. Until 37, be cool!

Epilogue

Gendo Ikari made his way back to his room. He had thought long and hard about what Shinji had said. He knew he had a chance at being redeemed for his many, many crimes. As he was about to retire for the night, the phone rang. The call display said that it was Fuyutski calling.

"How did it go?"

"Everything went as planned," the Commander replied.

"How is Shinji?"

"He is well."

"That's good to hear," said Fuyutski. "It was a slow day at NERV today. So I assume you will be back tomorrow."

"That is correct."

"Then I won't disturb you any further. I'll see you tomorrow." The Vice-Commander then hung up.

Gendo decided to keep the details of what happened to himself. He assumed that if the others had noticed an overhaul in his behaviour, then the others would be suspicious about something. This would be something that was kept between father and son.

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Epilogue 2

Zack woke up again. He checked the large ice pack he had on his groin area. The ice had melted, so he had to change the ice again.

So he slowly got up off the couch. He was still in a lot of pain. 'Damn that bitch,' he thought to himself as he slowly made his way to the kitchen. It looked funny how he was walking to the kitchen. He had his legs spread out, and appeared to be waddling. He checked the time on the microwave. 3:02am it said. And this was the third time he had to change his ice pack. He hadn't bothered to check to see how badly it was swelling because he would probably dread what he would see.

So once he changed the ice pack, he went back to his spot on the couch. He was able to relax as the cooling sensation of the ice flowed through the lower half of his body.

"I am so lucky she didn't cut me when she kicked me. But I bet I'm even luckier she wasn't Ivana because she wears steel toe shoes."


	37. Back to School

A/N: OK! It's time for the next chapter! Warning! Lots of swearing in this chapter! I apologize for this taking so long. I had midterms and they have had me tied up! ON WITH IT!

They never thought this day would come. It was a day many kids from ages four to eighteen would dread. But it was also a day many parents would love. Yes, it was time to start school again. The kids had their school uniforms on, and were ready to go.

"Did you make everyone's lunches Shinji?" asked Misato.

"Yup. Everyone's is ready to go," the boy replied.

"I hope this will be somewhat interesting," said Zack. "School was a snore back in Canada and only certain schools had to wear uniforms." Zack had his weapon hidden underneath a very large uniform shirt.

"Well, we had best comply to avoid conflict," said Ivana. She had her firearm tucked underneath her skirt. "Remember Zack, you are only to use your firearm if there is someone who is threatening the lives of our fellow pilots."

"Yeah, yeah I know. Who would be stupid enough to carry a gun to school?"

"Come on you guys, we're gonna be late!" shouted Asuka from the outside hall. "I don't want to be late on the first day!"

Once everyone was ready to go, the five pilots left the complex for their first day at high school.

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NERV HQ – Elly's Room

Elly was getting ready for the first day at school. She made sure her uniform was in good order with the adjustments she made to it.

"Tight shirt? Check. Hemmed up skirt? Check."

Once she had gotten dressed, she proceeded to the NERV cafeteria to grab something to eat on the way. She took a minute to check the menu. Once she got what she wanted, she also made her way off to school.

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Tokyo-3 High School (Uniforms suck!)

After Zack had made a few wrong turns and Shinji nearly getting decked by a car, the pilots found their way to the high school.

"Wow. It's huge," said Shinji.

"Obviously. I've been through high school already," replied Asuka. "And every student from around here is here. So it's obviously going to be big."

"Nah! It ain't that impressive," said Zack. "Hopefully some girl will hem up their skirt and it'll get interesting around here."

"Well speak of the devil…" said Ivana

"Hey everyone!" It was Elly. And yes she had her skirt hemmed up. "Hi Shinji! Hi Zack!"

"Hey there," said Zack. "Wow, you're looking sexy!"

"Yea! I hemmed up my skirt because I hate it when it droops so low. Like why not just call it a dress?"

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Inside (No running!)

It was definitely crowded indeed. Misato had said there was something like 3,000 kids at this school. And the school was large enough to accommodate them all. They all decided to go to the cafeteria to find out what their respective homerooms would be.

After having Zack and Ivana clear a path for the others to get in, they entered the cafeteria. The student homerooms were placed on walls all round the school. Asuka, Shinji, Zack, Toji, and Elly fought their way through the crowd to figure out what their homeroom. Rei and Ivana asked politely to get through the crowd and they made it through.

"Well, looks like Shinji and I got some lady named Mrs. Sanosuke," said Asuka.

"My instructor's name is Mr. Masumoto," said Rei.

"Aww! I got some guy for Science called Mr. Pitts!" said Elly. "I bet he is the pits!"

"I got some woman called Miss Hatsurogo for Japanese," said Zack.

"I also got her too," said Ivana.

"Score!" said Toji. "I got the same teacher as you," he replied pointing at Zack and Ivana.

Something then caught Zack's eye. It was a name on the list. "Hey, any idea who Coach Thunder is?"

"According to the information I have accumulated, he is the head of the Physical Education Department. And he is also from America as well," said Ivana. "We all have his class, so we'll find out what he's like first hand."

Then the time had come for the kids to proceed to their respective homerooms. They were ready for whatever the day would have in store for them.

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Misato's Apartment

Misato was relieved. Finally, the kids were back at school! This would mean she would have the whole day to herself. And Pen-Pen would also have some peace and quiet. With the peace and quiet she had, she decided to watch some Jerry Springer. She couldn't read English, so the Japanese subtitles did just fine.

It was a funny show indeed. She could imagine herself on the Jerry Springer show, fighting with Ritsuko over who gets to live with Kaji. And Kaji admits he fell in love with Maya instead, triggering an all out free for all. She laughed at the thought of that. But she knew Kaji would never do that to her… she hoped.

She decided to call Ritsuko for a woman's day out. The phone rang twice before Ritsuko answered.

"Hello."

"Hey Ritsuko."

"What do you want Misato?"

"Oh I was just thinking we should enjoy the first day without the kids and just hang out for the day. What do you say Rits?"

Ritsuko paused for a moment to think, Misato had assumed. She could overhear Ritsuko saying something to Maya before coming back on.

"Okay. Let's do it! Where do you want to go? Any place but a bar would be nice."

"Oh I know just the place we can go."

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Food and Nutrition Class

The teacher seemed like a nice person according to Asuka. Mrs. Sanosuke was a woman who appeared to be in her early forties. But Asuka's worst fears were confirmed when her and Shinji came to this class. **Shinji was the only male in the class**. Asuka then decided she would have to take some extra measures to make sure the other girls kept their "whorish" hands off Shinji.

They also learned that each student would be issued a laptop that they could use for the school year. The teacher then told them the course outline for the school year. They would have class for Monday to Thursday, and then they would cook a recipe for Friday. There were 3 ovens in the classroom as well.

The kids had also quickly downloaded an instant messenger service as well. And yes, they were already chatting over the service. And were already chatting.

A/N: All the kids have Instant Messenger names. Here they are:

Shinji: 01

Asuka: Red Sexy Babe

Rei: Rei

Toji: King of the Jocks

Ivana: Bolshevik

Zack: Pimp Mastah Z

Elly: Think Pink

Hikari: ILT

Kensuke: Nuke U

Oh yeah, and any chats on the messenger service will be in script format. I apologize for any inconveniences.

Red Sexy Babe: Hey Shinji, are you enjoying this class?

01: It's okay I guess. I love cooking, and this could also be a chance to learn some new recipes.

Red Sexy Babe: Like you need to know enough recipes. I'm the one that needs to be in this class.

01: I guess this'll be an easy credit. Now that I think about it, Misato should be in this class.

Red Sexy Babe: Haha! Misato would fail this class though. Unless the recipes are all about how to brew different types of beer.

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Math Class

Math seemed to be fine for Rei. All it simply was was numbers and how they can be manipulated to achieve results. Mr. Masumoto was a man who appeared to be half-bald and in his late forties. And apparently, he was VERY boring according to the other students.

Rei received her laptop from the teacher, and quickly learned the computer's different functions. Once she learned the functions, she listened as Mr. Masumoto explained the course's outline for the semester. Rei noticed as the students were looking very drowsy as the teacher continued to talk away. Some students had even fallen asleep. Rei just could not understand how the man was boring. He just seemed very monotone.

"And that's the outline for this class. Does anyone have any questions? Anyone? Anyone?"

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Japanese Class

Miss Hatsurogo would be what many teenage boys would refer to as hot. She was indeed a heartthrob. When the students came into the class, they would just look at her and drop their jaws. She was wearing a pink tank top with blue short shorts and appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She was laid back in her chair as the students were coming in.

Zack took a seat in the front row. Toji took the seat next to him. Ivana had taken the seat in one of the middle rows of the class. From the way the class was apparently seated, all the boys were sitting in the front rows, whereas all the girls were sitting in the back rows.

Miss Hatsurogo slowly got out of her chair and the guys just drooled at her movement.

'Wow. She's hotter than Mt. St. Helen,' thought Zack to himself.

She seemed to either be oblivious or enjoyed the snickers she was getting from all the guys. "Welcome to my Japanese class," she said in a seductive voice. "This is the academic level, so I'll expect you all to work… very hard."

Once the laptops were passed out, she began to explain the course outline. While she was doing this, Zack and Toji began to talk over the instant messenger service.

Pimp Mastah Z: What do you think of the teacher?

King of the Jocks: She's hot! Hotter than a London Broil!

Pimp Mastah Z: Yeah! Dreams really do come true!

King of the Jocks: You think you could bag her?

Bolshevik: I thought you were going to "bag" Elly.

Pimp Mastah Z: Whoa! Where'd you come from?

Bolshevik: I've been here the entire time.

Pimp Mastah Z: Bag? Don't you think that's a strong word?

Bolshevik: Knowing you… no.

Pimp Mastah Z: That's not nice.

King of the Jocks: Why don't you just ask her out?

Pimp Mastah Z: I'll do it when it's convenient for me.

Bolshevik: There's no shame in saying you're nervous.

Pimp Mastah Z: I ain't nervous!

Bolshevik: Then prove it. Ask her out after school. Otherwise admit your cowardice.

Pimp Mastah Z: Fine! I ain't scared. I'll bring it on you Commy!

King of the Jocks: Whoa! That's dangerous ground!

Bolshevik: We shall see…

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Science Class

The day so far had been terrible for Elly. She was in a class with no students she had known or seen before. And the teacher was actually Dr. Pitts. And he made sure that everyone knew that he was to be called Dr. Pitts.

Elly knew she was in trouble. After explaining the course outline and receiving her laptop computer he had handed out a test on the periodic table of the elements. And what? Elly knew maybe two, or three of the twenty elements she was required to know. Turns out she only knew one of the elements. Then Dr. Pitts told her to her face that she was going to fail the class miserably.

This just wasn't her day.

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Gym Class (The storm is brewing)

It had been a long day. The rest of the classes had come and gone. And now it was time for the final class of the day. The Physical Education Class, code named: The Thunderstorm. And as NERV had willed it, all the EVA pilots had gym class at the end of the day. Rumours had been going around that the teacher for this class was the worst thing that had ever happened to this school. Once they had all gotten dressed into their gym clothes, which they had bought prior to the start of the school year, they and the rest of the students were sitting on the grass, Hikari and Kensuke included.

"Why is this class called the Thunderstorm?" asked Zack.

"Rumours have been going around about this guy," replied Kensuke. "This teacher's supposed to be as bad as an army general. Maybe worse."

"Coach Thunder? That says a lot," said Elly.

"Well, the only way to know is to find out," said Asuka.

Just then, everyone turned in the direction of the school and gasped. A man was coming. A huge man. Absolutely massive. He had to be over seven feet tall. And his muscles made him look like a tank. Everyone was just frozen by the look on the guy. And the look wasn't friendly.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKERS DOING SITTING ON THE GRASS? GET THE HELL OFF YOUR ASSES AND PAY ATTENTION!" his voice boomed over the field.

Everyone quickly got up off their feet quickly and snapped to attention.

The man spoke once more. "Okay! I am Coach Thunder! You may only call me Coach, Sir, or Coach Thunder! Got me?

"Yes sir!" everyone said in unison.

"Good!" he yelled. "You'll get your outlines at the end of class! Saves my breath and less time for you runts to slack!"

After taking a quick attendance, he then pointed to the running track. "NOW! I WANNA SEE SOME LAPS!" The short pause only made the coach angrier. "MOVE YOUR FUCKING ASSES NOW!"

Everyone quickly snapped to running. It was generally assumed that it was suicide to ask how many laps they were doing. After about eight laps, everyone was fairly tired out; even Zack and Ivana were beginning to reach their limits.

Ivana decided to test Coach Thunder's patience. "Coach? Exactly how many laps are we to do?"

Coach Thunder looked like his head just erupted. "LOOK BITCH, DID I SAY YOU COULD ASK QUESTIONS?"

"You never said we couldn't," replied Ivana with a smirk.

"ALL RIGHT, JUST FOR THIS BITCH'S ATTITUDE, EVERYONE GETS 10 EXTRA LAPS!"

Ivana quickly then replied again. "You never even told us how many laps we had to do."

"GUESS WHAT? EVERYONE ELSE, YOU ALL GET 5! YOU!" he said pointing at Ivana. "YOU WILL RUN YOUR FUCKING ASS OFF UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!" he boomed again.

'Man,' thought Zack. 'Is she crazy? I value my life!'

Coach Thunder then focused his attention on the others. "All of you do pushups until I say stop!"

With a groan, the rest of the class started to pump out pushups. Rei was able to keep an average, steady pace with her pushups. Shinji was able to keep a steady rhythm, but was very slow. Asuka was tiring quickly, but pushed herself so she could match Rei. Toji and Zack were pumping pushups out like no tomorrow. Elly was trying fake her way through. And she was caught by Coach Thunder!

"Okay little girl. How come you can't do real pushups like everyone else?" he asked.

"It's too damn hard!" she replied.

He stared directly at her. He moved towards her very sternly. Then boomed. "IT'S TOO HARD? I'LL SHOW YOU TOO HARD! GET BACK IN THE PUSHUP POSITION!"

Elly did as she was told and reassumed her position. Thunder then placed a 10 pound weight on her back. Elly winced at the weight.

"YOU WANT HARD? THAT'S HARD! YOU WILL KEEP GOING UNTIL YOU DO 10 PUSHUPS!" he yelled at her.

Elly tried, but she couldn't get off the ground. "It's too hard! I ain't some fucking machine!"

"OH YOU GONNA CRY? YOU WANT YOUR MOMMY?"

"Fuck you!" she replied. She began to try to do the 10 pushups. She wasn't about to let some stuck up jerk get the better of her, even if the weight on her back made it harder. She tried her hardest, and finally she pushed herself up once. "One!" she shouted with a bit of triumph in her voice.

The rest of the class ensued with Coach Thunder making everyone do all sorts of drills. He told Ivana that she could stop fifteen minutes after he tormented Elly. Elly made it through all ten of the pushups. Hikari and Rei had to carry her back to the change room.

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Hot springs (Look both ways before crossing the street.)

"What the fuck crawled up his ass and died, came back from the dead only to die again?" said Zack as he relaxed in the boys tub.

"Who knows what's going through his mind?" said Toji. "That Coach Thunder is a lunatic as far as I'm concerned."

"That guy was a walking bomb," said Kensuke. "He needs anger management!"

"Hey Shinji, you've been relatively silent about this," said Zack. "What's your opinion?"

Shinji fumbled a bit for an answer. Obviously his mind was not on the asshole known as their coach. "Uhh, I think that if I try not to think about it, it may not be that bad."

"C'mon! It's obviously bad! He's almost as bad as your old man is!" replied Zack. "But at least your old man acts more mature than that steroid-induced idiot."

"I think the term is "'roid rage'," said Kensuke.

"So Shinji," said Toji. "If you weren't thinking about Coach Thunderbitch, what were you thinking about?"

Shinji started to get scared. "Nothing really. I wasn't thinking about anything."

"I know what you're thinking of," replied Zack with a grin. "You're thinking of Asuka. You wanna share a hot spring with her! Admit it!"

Shinji's face turned red. Obviously, in his mind, he knew that wasn't his thought, but Zack's suggestion intruded into his mind, and filled his thoughts with images he found clearly uncomfortable. He had to counter! Fast! "I see why… Asuka kicked your balls into your head!" he finally said.

Zack was shocked at the remark. This also got Toji and Kensuke laughing at Zack.

Toji was laughing the loudest. "You got sacked by the Devil Incarnate!"

"You're cursed now!" said Kensuke.

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Girls Spring

"I can't feel my back," said Elly. "If I still can't feel it soon, I'm going to see Dr. Akagi."

"I don't think he has a heart," said Hikari. "No man is that twisted, except for a twisted lunatic."

"He seems to be a very angry man," said Rei.

"No comment," said Ivana.

"By the way Asuka," Elly started. "What do you think of the great calamity that teaches our gym class?"

Asuka was trying not to think about anything except relax in the springs. So Elly's question caught her completely off guard. "Why would you ask me an obvious question? Of course the guy is in serious need of anger management!"

Elly just gave her a weird look. "Asuka, just because you have a college diploma, doesn't mean you can fool everybody. I know what you're thinking. You want to share a spring with Shinji!"

By now Asuka was really mad. "Look you dirty little girl. I have a lot more sense than that, and I pray Shinji does too. So get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Okay. Take a joke." 'Who do you think you're fooling Asuka? I'm a master in the art of deception. I bet nothing would have pleased you more. Ah, I can feel my back coming back to me…'

A/N: And there you have it. Sort of a rush. But I haven't updated in so long. Hopefully I'll be back on schedule soon.

Also, I might plan some side stories based on this fic and its pairings. I'm calling "Zany Antics" if it takes off. Mostly, it's the zany antics our pilots go through. But this will be different. You, as the reader, get to decide what kind of silly and/or romantic scene will happen in each "Zany Antic".

I have a few rules though.

The pairings MUST be based on Shinji x Asuka, Kaji x Misato, Zack x Elly, Toji x Hikari should you use pairings

Must be based on my fic

You may suggest a story, but you must vote on the others.

Laugh out loud.

And that's all for now. Until 38, be cool!


	38. Kidnapped!

A/N: Okay, it's time to get started on Chapter 38. Just a few notes though. I still plan to go through with the "Zany Antics", but I want to give you, the reader/reviewer some insight into what the "Zany Antic" is. You may voice your opinions through reviews, you can e-mail me, or you can drop a comment on my MSN Space. And after a while, whichever one has the most votes gets it. A few suggestions have been made, and they can be seen on my profile.

Now for some responses to the reviewers.

Materia-Blade: Ah… no. No yaoi/yuri pairings in this fic.

Jayhawk: If you got ideas, let me hear them! I'm listening!

Infinite Freedom: Err… no. No pairing of that sort either.

Ghostalker: Your ideas are being considered and deliberated over.

Now, on with it! Warning! This chapter contains some sexual themes and possibly degrading words.

Zack awoke from his peaceful slumber on the couch because his alarm had gone off at precisely 7:00am. He still felt really groggy.

"I don't think watching Jerry Springer Uncut till 3:30am was such a good idea," he said as he was waking up. "Well Pen-Pen was the one who got hooked on it. Yawn! Time to go wake the others up." He proceeded over to Rei and Ivana's room. He knocked on the door. "Wakey wakies! Time to get up!"

The response he got were some moans that sounded like someone awakening from slumber. Next, he went over to the room where Shinji and Asuka were sleeping. Then he remembered what he was planning to do last night, but forgot because he was watching Jerry Springer. He quickly got out the masking tape, and a hook, and taped it to their door. Then he hung Shinji's NERV issued baseball cap on the hook. Only a few people would actually know what this meant, and Zack hoped Misato knew what the "hat on the door" meant.

"You don't kick me in the balls and get away with it Asuka," said Zack to himself. "Now to go wake up Misato."

Zack then went to the laundry room to get dressed and ready for school. If his plan were to work, he would have to be able to leave very quickly. After that, he went to the fridge to get a beer for Misato. She had to be alert right away if his plan were to work. He knocked on Misato's door. "Wake up Misato! We need you!"

About ten seconds later, Misato emerged from her… state. Somehow, she took the beer from Zack's hand and guzzled down the can. "YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Burp!" She then noticed Zack. "What's up Casanova?"

Zack immediately went into action. "Uh Misato, there's something you need to see."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Zack then pointed to Shinji and Asuka's door. "Uh, what does the hat on the door mean?"

Misato takes a look for a moment. She tries to register "hat on the door" in her mind. She then remembered when she was in college doing… things with Kaji for a whole week. She remembered Kaji left a hat on the door. Then it came to her. "Oh my god!" she shouts.

She then went into their room where the two are sleeping. Of course, the two were sleeping. "Wake up you two! We need to have a talk!" She rips the blanket off of them. Next she rolled them both off the futon.

"Misato, what's going on?" asked Asuka. "What's Zack doing in here?"

Misato then checked the futon. To her shock, nothing was on it. No blood, no mess, no nothing. "No blood? No mess? No nothing? You two are still wearing clothes?"

Zack couldn't help himself. He was laughing like an idiot. Asuka now knew what Zack had done. **He must have made Misato think her and Shinji were having a rollercoaster ride in bed**. "ZACK!" Asuka went after him, but Zack had already bolted out the door, still laughing. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Kill who Asuka?" asked Shinji, who was obviously very confused and still getting the sleep out of his eyes.

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Somewhere in Tokyo-3, likely an alley or some other place where a bunch of bad guys don't want to be seen.

There were two men standing around in an alley. For some reason, if one were to look at them, you could tell they were bad news. One of them was about 5'7"; the other was about 6'4".

"So that's the one he wants?" asked the tall man.

"Of course she is you idiot," said the shorter man. "He's got big things planned for her."

"He'll do what he does to every girl. And when he's done, he gives them to the rest of us. It's not fair; he always gets the pure ones."

The shorter man scratched his chin. "Well he is the Ron. He can do as he wishes. All we gotta do is follow orders, and then we get paid, and still get some hoes in the end. She goes to school this way. So we ambush her, grab her, and shove her into the truck, and I doubt even NERV will be able to stop us."

"Yeah! Let's do it!" said the taller man.

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Misato's Apartment

By now, Asuka was really angry at Misato and Zack. She was angry at Misato for not giving her and Shinji the benefit of the doubt over their sleeping practices. Asuka figured Shinji would have a nosebleed and faint at the thought of going all the way. And she was really angry at Zack for playing that prank now she was ready to kick his balls out the back of his head.

Misato spent most of the morning apologizing to Asuka over what happened. Asuka told Misato to apologize when she was sober.

So now the three girls and one boy were on their way to school. They would probably end up meeting Elly and Zack when they got to school.

"He probably left early so he could go make out with Elly," said Asuka. "It was all part of his two-pronged plan."

"I doubt Zack has the capacity to think that far," said Rei.

"Whatever," said Shinji. "Why don't we just ignore him and don't let whatever he did this morning ruin your day."

"I agree," replied Ivana. "But if tries another stunt like that again, he will regret it."

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It was a beautiful summer day. The sky was blue, the birds were singing, the bees were buzzing, the children were laughing and playing. It seemed like a cheerful day for Elly. So cheerful, that she had a skip rhythm going while she was walking. School bag on her back, she looked like your typical schoolgirl on her way to school.

"Ah, I can't wait to get to school. I'll get to see Shinji, Toji, and Zack. Yay!" she said as she continued to skip along, humming a catchy tune to herself. Little did she know of the trouble that was lurking ahead for her.

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The two men that had Elly locked in their sights had spotted her. "Is she one?" asked the tall man.

"Yeah she is," replied the shorter man. "She's only fourteen years old. Quite a nice piece of work too." He pulled out a gun. "Let's do this. Right as she comes up to the van, we move. I'll put her out, and you stuff her into the van, then our third guy will drive off. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" said the tall guy.

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Elly now was whistling as she skipped on down the street. Ten more minutes and she would be at school. As she looked up ahead, she saw this really tall guy in her way. "Excuse me Miss," the tall guy started. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"And what would that be Big Guy?" she replied.

Suddenly, Elly felt kind of funny. She suddenly couldn't feel her body. 'What the…'. As she collapsed to the ground, she was caught by the man.

A short man appeared. He was holding a taser. "Now! Bag her and stuff her in the van!"

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Tokyo-3 High School

"Burn in hell you son of a bitch!" Asuka shouted. Apparently, some idiot ran through a light, and almost decked her and Shinji. If she wasn't watching, they both would have been sent flying.

"Not even a driver yet and she's already succumbing to road rage," said Ivana.

Once they entered school grounds, they found Zack sitting on a bench. He saw the four and approached them. "Hey guys, have you seen Elly anywhere?"

"You're about to see your one way trip to Hell!" replied Asuka. She began to punch him.

Zack this time, was expecting retaliation. "No seriously," he said while blocking her punches. "Elly didn't show like she was supposed to."

Asuka didn't listen. She kept up her assault. Suddenly, Zack noticed she was getting ready to kick. 'Oh no,' went through his mind. His mind was telling him "Counter! Counter!"

To Asuka's surprise, Zack suddenly knocked away her hand and gave her a push with his hand to her midsection. This caught her by surprise as she stumbled back and fell back, only to be caught by Shinji who also fell back but with a girl on top of him.

Zack realized what he had done. Then he saw the look on Ivana's face. "_OH SHIT!_" he said and took off. Ivana was after him in hot pursuit. They ran around the school and out of sight.

Rei checked on Shinji and Asuka. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"What day is it today?" said Shinji in a daze.

"Today is Tuesday," replied Rei. "Are you okay Asuka?"

"Of course I'm okay!" said Asuka in a rage. "Where the hell did that jerk go?"

"They ran around to the front of the school," said Rei.

So the three EVA originals raced around to the front of the school. They saw Ivana standing by the flagpole as if she was waiting for something.

"Hey Ivana, did you catch him?" asked Asuka.

Ivana shook her head. "No I was unable to catch him. But he has to come down sometime." Ivana pointed up, and everyone gasped.

Zack was atop the flagpole, and he appeared to have no intent of coming down. "You'd be surprised at how long I can stay up here!"

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Gendo Ikari's Office (He's busy. Don't disturb him)

Gendo Ikari was going about daily work. He looked over some Section 2 reports about the teachers his pilots had. Rei Ayanami's math teacher was apparently so boring that he put one of the agents to sleep. Shinji Ikari and Asuka Sohryu's teacher was a down-to-earth. Their class got his agents hungry because it was a cooking class. Zack Harper, Ivana Kharlamov, and Toji Suzahara had this blonde bombshell that had just gotten out of teacher's college. He made a note to Fuyutski to tell the Section 2 agents to stop ogling the teacher and focus on watching the pilots. As for Elly Simpson, she got a jerk for a teacher. He decided to make plans to meet this teacher and… force him to apologize for his behaviour towards Elly.

Just then his phone rang. Even Fuyutski knew not to disturb him right now. Whoever was calling better be calling about something important. He picked up the phone. "This had better be important Fuyutski."

"It is Gendo," said Fuyutski. "The Section 2 agents have bad news. Elly Simpson has been kidnapped."

"Have the other pilots sent home immediately, and put on heavy guard." He then looked at another report. "And make sure the Sixth Child gets down from the flagpole at Tokyo-3 High. I want the Seventh found immediately." He then hung up the phone.

'So, who wishes to mess with me and my pilots.'

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Misato's Apartment

The others were shocked at the information they had been given. Elly had indeed been kidnapped. Zack didn't take this very well at all. He was quiet throughout the entire briefing. Yes he had finally gotten down from the flagpole.

"So you are all to stay here until this situation with Elly is over," said Misato. "You five are not to leave the apartment complex until the situation is resolved."

"Where are you going Misato?" asked Shinji.

"I'm going down to NERV. I don't know when I'll be back. Oh yeah, and you won't be going to school until Elly's kidnappers are caught. Alright I gotta go!" And with that she left.

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Elly stirred as she was waking up. 'What the hell happened?' she asked herself. She then snapped to consciousness. She was in what appeared to be a very large room in a building. Almost large enough to be a party room, but too big to be an office.

"Ah, so she has finally woken up." A tall and almost wiry man in a very expensive white suit walked in. "I was hoping those two didn't rough you up too much. You still seem very much intact, and pure."

Elly tried to stand up, but she couldn't. She found out she was handcuffed and her legs were cuffed to a large chair. "What the hell's going on?" she asked.

"Before I explain, let me introduce myself," he said. "I am the Ron."

Elly's eyes opened with realization. "Hey you're that pimp I've been hearing about. Why do I have to be raped by you? Lemme out of here now!"

"Oh don't worry," said the Ron. "It won't be me having fun with you." He turned on a television set. "You'll have your fun with the highest bidder.

Elly looked at the screen. There were lots of numbers being tallied up. **The Ron was going to put her up for auction**. "That's trafficking and you can't get away with that!"

"That's what the other 572 girls I've sold said," replied the Ron. "Look at those numbers. Already at $5,550,000! You'll be a record seller in no time. But I have other businesses to attend to. Enjoy counting the numbers. And don't worry, while you are here, you will be treated well. I can't afford to have my merchandise damaged."

And with that, he left the room. Elly bowed her head down. She had never felt so helpless in her entire life. 'Where are you guys?' she asked herself. 'Zack, please help me…'

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Briefing Room

After six hours of talk and discussion, there were no leads on where Elly had gone.

"Do we have any sort of leads?" asked Misato.

"We have one," said Gendo. "But we are still waiting for him to arrive."

A Section 2 agent walked in. "Sir, he has arrived."

Gendo smiled. "Good. Bring him in."

'Who was the Commander talking about,' thought Misato.

The man walked in. Misato choked on her breath. It was Kaji. "Well, I see we have gotten ourselves into quite a predicament," he said. "And I some great information."

"What do you have?" asked Kozou.

"Not long after Miss Simpson was kidnapped, an auction began. And the figures being tallied are huge."

"What are you getting at?" asked Misato.

"I'm saying that whoever kidnapped Elly is putting her up for auction. And whoever he is, he's in this city. To get more information, I also entered the auction."

"You're sick!" said Misato.

"Calm down Major," said the Commander. "Good work Kaji. Do you know who is behind this?"

"Actually I do," the badly shaven mad replied. "It's the Ron. And he is going to sell Elly to the highest paying pervert out there."

So now after further discussion, they learned where the Ron was staked out. So now they went into rescue mode.

"How will we get in?" asked Misato.

Kaji spoke up. "I could get in, but there's a BIG catch."

"And what would that be?"

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Misato's Apartment

"So it's the Ron?" asked Zack. Zack had gone on a hunch and checked out the online black market. Turns out someone was selling an EVA pilot in an auction.

"Yes," said Ivana. "He will sell Elly to the highest bidder tonight."

"According to this," said Zack. "There's a pimp convention at this address in Tokyo-3. I bet that's where Elly is." Zack then got up from his chair and took out his 9mm.

"What are you doing Zack?" It hit Ivana what Zack was going to do. "Zack, you can't!"

"I don't care," replied Zack. "I'm going to that convention."

A/N: And that's this chapter. I'll say right now that pimping is bad and ANYONE who takes part in such an activity should be locked up and have the key melted down. I don't support pimps, I just needed it for the chapter. They will get their just deserts in the next chapter.

Oh yes, and a few people have submitted ideas for "Zany Antics". You can give me your ideas through reviews, you can e-mail me, or drop a comment on my MSN Space. Remember, you can vote too, as long you don't vote on your suggestion.

That's all for now. Until 39, be cool!


	39. Blow Me Away

A/N: Okay! The rescue operation is on! On with it!

NERV HQ – Briefing room

"I could get in," said Kaji. "But I'd need to bring…"

"Bring what?" asked Misato.

"Hot women to please the guys there!" Kaji finally said.

Misato buried her head in her hands. "Great. I end up having to use my body to make sure Kaji gets inside the facility. How degrading."

"I have a better idea," said Fuyutski.

"What would that be?" Gendo inquired.

"I'm sure we have plenty of appealing women in this facility. It would be better if Major Katsuragi wasn't the only woman going with Kaji. It would be less… intimidating."

"That is true," replied Gendo. "Kaji, you will also have the assistance of Dr. Akagi and Lt. Ibuki as well."

Now it was Ritsuko and Maya's turn to gulp as they knew they were also going to the hellhole where Elly was being held captive. Well, it was better that three women were going and not just one.

Gendo then continued. "Kaji, it will be your job to get yourself, and Major Katsuragi, Dr. Akagi, and Lt. Ibuki inside the facility. Then, the women are to do as they are told by the others inside the facility." He paused for a moment, and then continued. "If you wish to stall your ordeal inside, you may do so as long as possible. Kaji will get as close to the Seventh as he can, then he will plant a homing device. That device will send a signal to the waiting Section 2 Agents. Exactly 45 seconds after the device has planted, the agents will storm the facility and ensure a swift rescue. I advise you all to take cover as the agents are ordered to be on Level 3 engagement."

Misato knew what that meant. Level 3 engagement meant they were to shoot anyone they thought would be a danger to themselves and the mission. At least it wasn't Level 4 where they would shoot everything that moved.

Kaji had a question. "And what about the Ron? He and the Pimp Ring aren't likely the type to give up easily. He may try to escape. Or even fight back for that matter."

Gendo answered his question. "I do not care for what happens to the Ron. As long as he is brought back here dead or alive, I could not care less for what happens to him. If he violates and/or kills the Seventh because of your failure, it will be on your heads."

Gendo then looked at Misato, Ritsuko, and Maya. "I advise you three to change into… the appropriate attire to ensure this mission's success. This mission will begin as soon as possible. You are dismissed."

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Misato's Apartment

"I still can't believe Zack left like that," said Shinji.

"Well if he's lucky, he'll die quickly," replied Asuka.

"Asuka! How can you say that?"

"Well, how would you feel if the guy was making sexually driven jokes at you 24-7? And with that prank this morning, that was it."

Shinji had a question. "Speaking of this morning, what did Misato mean by blood, or a mess?"

Turns out Shinji didn't know as much about that sort of thing as Asuka thought he would. "You'll figure it out someday," she finally said. "Do yourself a favour and not worry about it."

"Dinner is almost ready," called Rei from the kitchen. Since Ivana had left with Zack, Rei decided she would take Ivana's place that night.

"Okay Rei," replied Shinji. His thoughts went back to what had happened earlier. "Still, it kind of bold on Zack's part to do what he did."

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Flashback – Misato's Apartment

"Zack! Are you mad? You just can't go!" said Ivana. Having her share of combat experience, she knew what he was doing was suicide.

"I don't care Ivana," said Zack, who had now taken out some ammo clips for his 9mm. "I have to go. If I don't at least try, I'll never forgive myself. I may have never been in actual combat, but I know I am qualified. Even if I die, I'll take as many of those pricks as I can with me."

Ivana looked Zack directly in the eyes. She could see the pure determination. She then began to laugh at him.

Now Zack was confused. "What's so funny Ivana?"

Ivana finally stopped laughing. "It's funny what love can do to people. It can totally blind them at times. And since I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let a blind fool go by himself." She took out her own 9mm. "I'm coming with you." She motioned to her room. "Come here for a minute."

So Zack followed Ivana into her room. "What for?" he asked.

Ivana opened her dresser door. Zack gasped at the sight he saw. Her dresser was loaded with all sorts of weaponry from machine guns to combat knives to grenades! "If we're going to storm a pimp convention, we had better be properly prepared."

"Okay!" said Zack with determination. "Let's lock and load!"

Once they had selected the weapons they had wished, they both changed into their black jumpsuits that they had but never had used before, with Zack changing in the laundry room and Ivana in her room. Zack's weapons were his issued 9mm, a knife in a shoulder sheath, another knife in a sheath on his waist, two submachine guns on his back, and several ammo clips. Ivana's weapons were her issued 9mm, several grenades on her belt ranging from explosive grenades to flash grenades, a scope on her right arm, and several ammo clips. And to top it off, a large Russian assault rifle on her back.

Zack and Ivana planned to sneak out the window. Before Zack left, he said. "Cover for us guys. And make sure to keep dinner warm. And make extra as well, because we're bringing Elly back with us."

"Understood," said Rei.

"Be careful," said Shinji.

"Whatever. Just don't get shot," said Asuka.

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End of Flashback

"I guess so," said Asuka. "But isn't NERV likely going to take care of it?"

"Most likely," replied Shinji. "But I doubt that was on his mind when he made up his mind."

"Let's leave the worrying to Ivana and Casanova. I'm sure Wondergirl has finished making dinner by now."

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Outside the Pimp Convention

Kaji, Misato, Ritsuko, and Maya were just 100 meters from where the convention was taking place. Kaji was giving some final instructions.

"Okay. Just remember, do whatever the pimps tell you to do. And for the sake of your own self-respect, try to stall as long as you can. When the homing device is planted, after 35 seconds, a beep will go off on your monitors. That's the signal to take cover or get down. You will only have 10 seconds to do so before the Section 2 agents storm the building."

"Let's do this," said Misato.

"I hope they're not too rough," said Ritsuko.

"I'll do my best," said Maya.

"Then lets go save our pilot!" said Kaji. "And show these bastards how low they really are!"

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Inside the Pimp Convention

Elly continued to watch the auctions tally up from the chair she was still cuffed to. The auction for her was now at $12,000,000 in American dollars. And the number of auctioneers had tripled after a few hours. And with every second that had passed, she was falling further and further into despair.

Just then, the Ron came in. "Ah are were enjoying ourselves here?"

"Look you sick bastard!" she yelled. "NERV is gonna be here soon! And when that happens, your balls will be completely out of commission."

"Now, now. Calm down. I don't want my product all stressed out," replied the Ron. "The convention has started. So don't get too comfortable there. You'll be sold by the end of the convention. And NERV won't be able to do a thing about it."

"I don't wanna be sold! Lemme out of here now!"

Suddenly, she felt very dazed. And a sharp pain in her arm. The Ron had stuck a syringe needle in her arm. "It's a sedative," replied the Ron. "This will help you relax. I must go attend to my convention now. A good host must be able to entertain his guests." He went to the door.

The Ron was now in the main room where his party was taking place. There were people everywhere. And it seemed like every man had at least a woman dressed in scantily clothing. When he had appeared, he was given a huge cheer by all the other pimps there. There were many different groups there, such as the Beerbuddies, the Hoes Galore, and Pimp Heaven.

"Welcome my guests," he said addressing the crowd. "We're here to enjoy ourselves, have it up with our beautiful women, and best of all, to auction off a pretty NERV EVA pilot."

This got another cheer from the crowd. The Ron took a moment before speaking again. "Whether you're here to auction, or just for the sights, all I ask is that you enjoy yourselves."

And of he went to enjoy his party.

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By now, the group had gotten to the door. There was a lone guard standing watch outside the facility. He noticed them approach.

"What are you doing here?" the guard asked.

"I came here for the convention," replied Kaji.

"Where's your entry fee?"

"I got three of them right here," said Kaji. Misato, Ritsuko, and Maya stepped out of the shadows. All three are wearing VERY questionable clothing. After taking a good look at all three women, the guard is pleased with what he sees.

"Wow! You got some hot stuff there man!" said the guard. "And three of them! You're a playa!" He went inside for a second. Then came back out. "Okay man, you can go in. But remember, we all believe that our women should be shared. So be prepared to share!"

"Gotcha!" said Kaji. He turned to the women. "Alright, I want to have a good reputation, so don't cause any trouble, or I'll have you tied up and left in the basement again!" he finished with a commanding tone in his voice.

The women knew it was a charade, and played along. "Yes Master," they said in unison.

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Other side of the building

Due to the amount of darkness that the night can provide, nobody could notice two people using the cover of the night to sneak up to the building. Zack and Ivana had sneaked in through the back door. There were a pair of dogs there at the back that looked like bloodthirsty wolves in the night. But those dogs were nothing a rack of pork ribs couldn't handle.

Once inside, they had sneaked in through a bathroom stall. Zack was ready to raise hell. "Okay, time to kick some pimp a…"

"Hold on," whispered Ivana. She pointed at the ceiling. "Let's sneak through the ceiling. It's made of Styrofoam tiles. Then we can crawl along until we're right above them."

Zack quickly agreed. With Ivana on his shoulders, she pushed away a tile and climbed up into the unknown. A hand later came down and she pulled Zack up. Yes, she was that strong. After replacing the tile, they crawled along the ceiling, while keeping their bodies spread out to avoid putting too much pressure on the ceiling.

'I'm here Elly,' Zack said to himself.

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Gendo Ikari's Office

Gendo got the report from the Section 2 Agent. Kaji, Major Katsuragi, Dr. Akagi, and Lt. Ibuki were inside the pimp convention.

"So are they inside?" asked Fuyutski.

"Yes. Plan B is now in effect?"

"Plan B?" Fuyutski was definitely confused.

"I needed to keep Plan A a secret from all of you. Otherwise, Major Katsuragi would have compromised the plan."

Now Fuyutski was curious. "What is Plan A?"

Gendo then revealed his true plan. "If you were to check Major Katsuragi's residence, you will notice that Zack Harper and Ivana Kharlamov are not there."

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As far as Misato was concerned, the place was disgusting. A true shithole where only the male specimen would survive. She saw many different women, whom although not showing it directly, were truly hating this convention, as the men were drinking it up, acting as if they were having the time of her life. She surely hoped Kaji would hurry and get this over with. But he had to stay somewhat in character, and talk to the other girls, as he was actually looking around.

Misato checked to see what Ritsuko was up to. She seemed to be handling herself just fine, educating these lowlife scumbags with some knowledge that would take them decades to comprehend.

Maya on the other hand, wasn't doing so well. Some guys were coming on to her, and well… she was trying her best to keep away, but it was apparent that these losers would never fully understand the meaning of the word no.

Misato herself, on another hand, was trying to stay out of sight. She hadn't been asked to do dirty things… yet. And she wondered how much longer that was going to last.

'Dammit Kaji! Hurry up!'

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Zack and Ivana had been crawling for about two minutes now before coming to a stop.

"I think here would be the best place to stage our ambush," said Ivana.

"What do you propose we do?" Zack asked.

Ivana pulled a grenade off her belt. "Simple. We cut a hole in the roof big enough to drop a flash grenade through. Once the grenade goes off, we attack."

"Works for me."

Zack took his knives and began to cut a hole not much bigger than his fist. Once he was done cutting the hole, Ivana looked at him again. "Are you ready? Once we start, there's no turning back, or there's even the chance we could be killed in the ensuing gunfight."

"Bring it on," said Zack. He got out his two submachine guns, and Ivana readied her assault rifle.

Ivana pulled the pin on the grenade. Then she counted to three, then… she dropped the grenade.

Zack could have sworn he heard someone say "What the fuck?" Then one second before it went off, people seemed to realize what it was and some began to scream.

BOOM!

The grenade went off. People were screaming amongst the confusion. "NOW" shouted Ivana.

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Misato had seen it just in time to take cover. Some damned idiot had dropped a grenade through the ceiling. Thank God it was only a flash grenade. She had ducked behind a table. She began to look up and the next sight horrified her. Two people, dressed in black, suddenly smashed through the ceiling. One was armed with two submachine guns, the other with a large assault rifle.

And they began shooting at everything.

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When Zack broke through the ceiling, he didn't take time to aim. He just shot and assumed he would hit something. He heard some moans, from which he guessed he had gotten something.

Ivana knew they had completely caught everyone by surprise. She had also begun shooting at the targets she could see in all the smoke. The great feeling of combat came back to her, just like it was when she would fight against terrorists in Russia.

Zack knew the surviving pimps had begun to shoot back. He quickly ducked for cover behind a table. As he got behind the table, he noticed someone else was there. He aimed his guns at… Misato? "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I should be the one asking that!" she replied. "We'll talk later!" She now snapped her gun up and also began shooting back.

Ivana had also ducked for cover once the fog cleared. The pimps were now shooting back. The women had ducked for cover. Ivana didn't want to harm any innocents, so grenades were out of the question. She snapped her assault rifle back up and took down a few more.

Kaji had also seen what was going on. The turn of events had even shocked him. 'Had Commander Ikari planned something else all along?' He snapped his gun and also began shooting at the pimps. 'Hopefully Ritsuko and Maya are okay.'

By now, things were totally going bedlam. Now the Section 2 Agents were storming the building. It was total chaos. And now the Ron must have summoned his guards too, as there were people all over the place shooting at each other. Zack took a minute to reload, before shooting at the closest bastard he saw. "DIE YOU SICK BASTARDS!"

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Elly had heard an explosion, followed by a large amount of gunfire. As scary as a gunfight downstairs was, to Elly, it meant a sense of relief. The sedative had worn off as well. Now she knew NERV was here to rescue her. So she knew her chances of seeing all the others would improve greatly.

The Ron now came into the room, taking a moment to catch his breath. "Seems like someone is trying to get a little greedy," he said to Elly. "It seems your little friends from NERV are here to save you. Too bad they'll fail. We're leaving!"

As the fight raged on, Zack noticed that there was a staircase at the end of the room. Suddenly, a hunch came into his mind. 'That's were Elly probably is,' he said to himself. He looked at Ivana. "Ivana! Cover me!"

Ivana heard the request for backup. She saw where Zack had intended to go. To the upstairs. Knowing the danger Elly was likely in, because the Ron was likely alerted by the gunfight, making sure Zack got upstairs was of prime importance. "Kaji! Help me cover Zack!" she called out.

Kaji heard what Ivana requested, and assisted with Ivana giving Zack the cover fire he needed to advance to the next level. Zack ran across the field, shooting when he could, hiding when he had the chance. When he was told to move, he kept going. Getting closer and closer seemed like it was going to take forever. Suddenly a pimp popped up in front of him. The scare that gave him made Zack unload between eight to ten bullets into his head.

Misato looked around. She saw Ritsuko and Maya being treated by Section 2 agents for injuries that they have likely sustained when Casanova did his little stunt a while ago. She also noticed Zack was making a break for the upstairs. She also gave him the cover fire he needed.

Zack had made it past the blockade of the surviving pimps and guards. While he had the chance, he took some shots at the bastards who had the intention of having their way with the girl whom he had feelings for.

"Zack. Don't worry about them! Just save Elly!" shouted Kaji over the gunfire.

Zack quickly found the Ron's room. It really wasn't that difficult. It was the only room that was coloured gold. With one kick, the door opened. "Okay Mr. Ron! Where the fuck are you?"

Elly recognized that voice anywhere. "Zack? Is that you?"

Zack turned to his left. "Elly? Oh my god, you're okay!" He ran over to her. He noticed she was cuffed to a chair. That didn't stop him from giving Elly a hug though.

Zack noticed Elly was crying. "I was so scared," she said. "I thought I'd never see you guys again."

Zack comforted her. "Don't worry, as soon as I get you out of here, Shinji and Asuka have a big meal waiting back at the apartment for us. Watch yourself and I'll get these cuffs off."

Using his 9mm, he shot at the cuffs, however, making sure he didn't accidentally hit Elly in the process. Seven shots later, two for each handcuff and three for each leg cuff, Elly was finally free.

Elly gave him a big hug, and began to cry even harder, her sobbing drowning out all the gunfire downstairs. She was safe for the moment. Now they had to find a way to escape.

"Alright," said Zack. "Let's get out of here."

However, another voice interjected. "I beg to differ. You two aren't going anywhere!"

A/N: As for the "Zany Antics" vote. The deadline is November 5th, 2005. I will then determine the winner. Any votes that were cast for a losing bid will be carried over into the next vote. And anyone who voted for the winning bid will be able to vote for one of the others. Until 40, be cool!


	40. Zack vs The Ron

A/N: Here we are! It's our hero Zack, versus the leader of an organization that exploits women known as the Ron. Can he win? On with it!

Zack glared the man he assumed was the Ron. He was definitely tall. Definitely had a few inches more on Zack than the pilot had assumed. "So you're the bastard who kidnapped Elly."

"No, no," replied the Ron. "More like acquired. Business is business. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to make money. Money is what makes the world turn round and round."

"You're sick!" said Zack right back. "You treat people like objects that make you money. You place no value on life whatsoever. Once NERV gets up here, you are FINISHED!"

The Ron just chuckled. "I must contradict you however." He took out a remote and clicked the button. Where the door used to be was suddenly replaced by a thick blast door. "This whole room is now completely blast proof. Once I eliminate you, the girl will be my ticket to freedom."

Zack took a few steps away from Elly and moved towards the Ron. "Elly, stay back." She obeyed, and backed into the corner.

"Please be careful," she said.

"Count on it." Zack continued to move closer. "This shouldn't take too long."

"I agree," replied the Ron. He threw something at Zack. Zack of course flinched at whatever it was. He felt something click on his wrist. It was some sort of bracelet.

"What's with the bracelet?" asked Zack.

"I see the connection between you two," said the Ron. "This just makes it more physical."

"Explain yourself!" the Sixth Child shouted.

"It's very simple. The bracelet you wear and the collar she wears share an attachment."

Elly checked around her neck. There was definitely a collar of sorts around her neck. It was strange that she hadn't noticed it before. She tried but it wouldn't come off. "What the fuck did you do?"

The Ron began to explain. "It's simple really. Each time your boyfriend gets hurt, you will get electrocuted. How much electricity can you handle?"

Elly now knew the true scale of the danger she and Zack were now in. If Zack gets hurt, she would feel it too. And she knew she would not last as long as Zack could.

The Ron figured he had the two right where he wanted them. "So boy, if you turn the girl over to me, I will guarantee her life and yours. Do we have a deal?"

Zack's face became more confident than before. "I think you've underestimated the will of EVA pilots. We can handle more than you think." Zack shifted into a battle stance. "We're both going home, and there's nothing you can do about it. You're going down!" He then looked at Elly. "Are you ready? You know what may happen."

Elly gave Zack the same look. "Go for it Zack!"

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By now, Section 2 had mowed down all the guards and pimps that had stood in their way, and were tending to the injured bystanders.

Misato and Ivana were heading upstairs. On their way up, Misato and Ivana exchanged a few words.

"So what were you two doing here?" Misato had asked.

"It was Zack's idea," replied Ivana. "And I wasn't about to let that idiot go by himself Besides, I gave him all the weapons he has right now."

"I knew you had weapons all along!" said her guardian. "But I wish you didn't put yourself in this kind of danger."

"It's amazing what love can do to one's mind. In Zack's case, it turned him into a blind fool."

They came up to a door. It was a blast door. "Zack must be in there," said Misato.

"We can't get in," said Ivana. "He's all alone in there."

"Dammit!" yelled Misato. "That jerk is gonna get himself and Elly killed and we can't do a thing about it!"

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Gendo Ikari's Office

Gendo and Kozou were watching on the Rogers TV the events that were going on with great interest.

"So, now it has come down to a one-on-one fight between Harper and the Ron," said Gendo.

"But shouldn't we intervene? This could be bad for Zack and Elly!" said Fuyutski. "She could be killed if Zack takes too many hits!"

"That is true," said Gendo. "But this is rather… interesting. It would bolster the Sixth Child's morale should he be able to do this himself.

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Inside (MORTAL KOMBAT!)

Zack was fully confident in his abilities. He was ready for this. "I hope you're ready Mr. Ron. I'll show you the true power of my self-taught martial arts! The art known only by a few as Z-itsu! Not even my sparring partner has seen what you're about to see."

The Ron cracked his knuckles. "Well it isn't everyday I get to take care of an adversary personally. I'm going to enjoy this." He also took a battle stance. "Are you ready?"

Zack didn't answer. He charged! Once he was within striking distance he suddenly left his feet to deliver three tornado kicks without touching the ground. The Ron was caught by surprise by the viciousness of Zack's assault. But was still able to block the six lethal kicks Zack had outputted.

The Ron then delivered his own flurry of assaults. To Zack's surprise, he realized he would have to stay on the ropes. Because he guessed that any hit he took, even a block, could cause harm to Elly. So now he had the nearly impossible task of swaying out of the way of his attacks.

Zack managed to sidestep the Ron and attempted to deliver a chop to his back. But the Ron got around Zack and kicked him in the back.

Zack hit the floor, slightly dazed. Suddenly he heard a girl scream in pain. He remembered what the Ron said. For every hit he took, Elly would get electrocuted. "Elly!"

"I-I-I'm f-fine," said Elly. She was obviously in pain. "J-just g-get him."

Zack got back up. "You bastard!" He attacked again.

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Misato's Apartment

Rei had cooked a wonderful dinner. Once Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Pen-Pen were finished eating dinner, and after making an extra bowl each for Zack, Ivana, and Elly, they turned on the news. Shinji was at the moment in the kitchen making milkshakes for the three.

The news had reported that NERV was investigating suspicious activity at a building in the downtown district of Tokyo-3. And apparently, there were eyewitnesses reporting an explosion, followed by a lot of gunfire. The gunfire had stopped for the moment, but NERV is telling people to stay back.

"Great, what did Casanova do?" said Asuka. "He's causing trouble wherever he goes."

"He is likely the one that started the shooting," said Rei.

"Shinji! How long does it take to make a milkshake? Hurry up!" yelled Asuka into the kitchen.

"I'm going as fast as I can," came the reply from the kitchen. "When was the last time Misato used the blender? I swear, she's gonna wreck this thing the way it's so battered."

"Damn Misato!" said Asuka. "If Shinji never moved in, this place would be declared unsanitary for living conditions."

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Zack wasn't too sure how well his self-taught martial arts were doing so far, as he ducked a kick and backpedaled from a punch. 'Why hasn't NERV intervened yet?' Then it hit him. 'Maybe they want me to do this alone,' he concluded. So he tried another combination. Zack attacked again with a flurry of punches.

The Ron found this flurry difficult to handle. The boy was much better than he had anticipated. Suddenly, to his surprise…WHAM!

Zack connected his fist with the pimp's face. Then Zack followed up with a kick to the chest and the Ron went flying.

"Had enough?" Zack asked. "There's a lot more where that came from."

The Ron quickly got back to his feet. "Insolent brat! You'll pay for that!"

The Ron then went on the attack. Zack kept up his dodging game. When the Ron tried to throw a left, Zack used the Ron's arm to push himself back.

The Ron noticed this, and knew quickly Zack was up to something. He saw Zack reach for something on his left shoulder. A knife!

Zack threw the blade at the Ron, but it was obvious the Ron had seen it coming as the Ron sidestepped to his right to dodge the knife.

"Nice try boy," said the Ron. "But it's not right to use weapons in hand to hand combat."

"And it's not right to use girls for your own personal pleasures," replied Zack right back.

And so the two combatants met in the middle of the floor. It was harder for Zack, as he kept backpedaling to avoid being hit, and Elly being harmed as a result of his getting hit.

The Ron noticed Zack was being really defensive, and decided to catch Zack by surprise again. As Zack prepared to backpedal from another attack, the Ron continued to advance and he kicked Zack sprawling.

"YAAAHHHHH!" screamed Elly as she felt the electricity surge through her body again.

"See what you've done?" said the Ron. "The more you fight, the more she gets hurt. So her death will be on your hands."

Zack was pretty slow to get up. That last kick had really knocked the wind out of him. He got up to one knee, panting pretty hard. "And if she dies because of your sick game, I will be able to fight at my hardest. So I suggest you stop this now before YOU get killed!"

"I concur," said the Ron. He hit another button on the remote he had. "Now you had best surrender or face some serious consequences. I have doubled the electricity output from her collar. Before was just 120 volts. Now it's 240 volts!"

Now Elly was really scared. She knew Zack would never surrender, and although she would never forgive him if he gave up, what if he couldn't keep up? He seemed pretty exhausted, and that last hit winded him pretty bad. The pain she would be feeling would now be worse than before. The last electric attacks had already brought her to her knees. 'Please Zack… be careful.'

"I will… never surrender to the likes… of you!" said Zack through his pants of breath. Zack attacked again. However, things were going bad for the Sixth Child; his attacks were slower than before.

The Ron had ample opportunities to counter Zack's tiring attacks, but he decided he would take his time to prolong their suffering. He figured he would pretend to have accidentally dropped his guard before giving Zack the beating of a lifetime.

Zack figured he was making some ground on the Ron. Although he was tiring out, he knew he just had to keep pushing a little further, and he would be able to connect…

WHAM! The Ron suddenly delivered a fist to Zack's face. The Ron then followed up with two kicks to the chest. Zack was about to go sprawling, but suddenly the Ron grabbed his shirt. Four more punches found their way into Zack's face before he was sent flying. And over all the hits, were Elly's screams of pain, and the sound of her hitting the floor.

Zack was sprawled out on the floor next to Elly. "Elly? Are… you there?" Zack asked.

Zack could see the electricity coursing through her body. She was almost unconscious, but she managed to speak. "Zack… I'm… sorry. I couldn't… handle… it. You deserve… better."

Zack took her hand as she fell unconscious to the pain. The fact that the Ron was using Zack's will to fight to torture her and torment himself infuriated Zack. "Elly, I will destroy him. He does not deserve to live."

The Ron chuckled at the sight he saw. "Ah how touching. You two can die together. Ah well, I can still escape. I lost a bit, but survival is all that matters."

"You will not survive."

"What? Who said that?" asked the Ron.

"I did." Zack was back on his feet. "It ends… here."

"Alright. If you are so confident, come and get me, and squeeze what little life is left in your girlfriend."

Not many would be able to figure out what happened next. The look of pure hatred in Zack's eyes suddenly shocked the Ron. Suddenly, Zack charged at him again, with more fury than ever before.

Before the Ron could raise his guard, Zack had apparently become a blur of fury. Almost immediately, Zack hit him between the eyes with a punch. Before he could cry out in pain, he felt a kick to his lower back. Almost instantaneously, a kick to the stomach, then followed by a chop to the back of his head, followed by several punches to the stomach, then a barrage of kicks to his lower back. Then he felt as if someone was hitting him in the face with several hammers, which were actually Zack's fists.

The Ron was dazed from all the pain, the last thing he saw was Zack and he only said one thing.

"Burn in hell."

Zack ran at him one last time. His triple tornado kick had so much force behind it that it pushed the Ron back… through the window.

Zack watched as the Ron fell… through Misato's car. He could hear the alarm going off. 'Damn!' he said to himself. He walked back to where Elly was. She was still unconscious. "I did it Elly," he said to her as he knelt down and took her hand. "He'll never harm anyone again."

Suddenly, a wave of dizziness came over Zack and then he blacked out as well.

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Zack opened his eyes. 'Where am I?' he asked himself. He took a look around. He figured he was in the NERV hospital, because he remembered when Shinji, Asuka, and Rei were hospitalized after their EVA battles. As he looked around, he noticed someone sitting in a chair next to his bed. It was Elly.

"About time you woke up," she said. "It's been what… 24 hours since you blacked out. And you missed out on the wonderful dinner Rei made for you."

"Really?" Zack tried to sit up, but he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

"Don't sit up so fast!" said the Australian. "Dr. Akagi said you broke a few ribs in your fight."

Elly helped the Canadian sit up on the hospital bed. Zack then had a question. "So what happened to you? After all those electric shocks?"

"Well, it DID hurt. I'm on painkillers right now, until the effects wear off. All my body joints and muscles feel really tight because of the electricity that went through my body."

"I'm glad you're okay," said Zack with a smile.

"Yeah. Thanks for not giving in despite the danger I was in," said Elly.

"No problem," said Zack. "I would never forgive myself if I let something bad happen to you."

"In that case, I should reward my hero for saving me," the Seventh Child. Before Zack knew what had happened next, he and Elly were sharing a beautiful kiss in that hospital room.

Ritsuko looked on from outside the hospital room on what she was seeing. "I guess he isn't the pervert we all thought he was. But whatever heroic deed he may have done has been disregarded by Misato when she found out he totaled her car."

A/N: Woohoo! I hit 40 chapters! I'm a happy guy right now! R&R people. Until 41, be cool!


	41. Dodgeball, Pepto Bismol, and Wings

A/N: Well, I've been away from this one for a while, so now it's time to kick back into gear. I'm glad my Zany Antics got such a warm reception. Thanks to all that reviewed. And another thanks to those who voted too. It shows that you care.

Now for a quick response to the reviewers.

Marine Brother Shran – Expect to see something on what you said VERY soon

Infinite Freedom – The chances of what you said in your latest review is much more likely to happen than what you said earlier. Asuka Langley Ikari does have a nice ring to it and is easier to pronounce than Sohryu.

Maria – I'm glad you and destinyfaith like my story so much. If your mind has something it wants to post on the site, then go for it!

Naon Tiotami – Thanks for asking me to be a staff member for your C2!

Now this chapter will be a little less tense than before. So you can relax and put your mind at ease. If any of you are concerned about the next Black Angel, don't worry, I already know what's going to happen. It will come, because I will it so. Now on with it!

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Misato's Apartment

It was yet another day for Misato without a car. Today would mark the third day she didn't have her car. And that was because when Elly was kidnapped, Zack fought her kidnapper to win her freedom. Zack won alright, but he kicked the Ron through the window, and he fell through her car, totaling it. Luckily, it would be covered under NERV's insurance plan, otherwise Zack would have more than a few broken ribs.

She was ready to beat Zack down when she found out it was him, and the ruckus he had caused by the stunt he pulled, herself, Kaji, Ritsuko, and Maya could have been killed. Zack and Ivana were never even disciplined by Commander Ikari for the gunfight they started. But when Ritsuko told Misato Zack had suffered a few broken ribs, Misato decided to back off, saying that she wouldn't kick an adversary when he's down. Misato didn't even know Ivana had all those weapons in her room to begin with.

But on a positive note, she learned that Zack and Elly were now an "item", so hopefully that would mean Zack would stop hitting on other girls… for the moment.

Misato focused on her current priorities. The first one was getting through her second morning beer. The second was making sure that the kids were getting ready for school. The third priority was convincing Zack that he wouldn't have to do gym class because of his broken ribs. Today was Friday, and Shinji and Asuka were already complaining about Phys Ed class at the end of the day. Turns out they had some super macho man for a teacher, who would probably run them until they threw up.

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School

When Zack came to school, everyone wanted to know how he had broken his ribs. Zack's excuse was that he got into a fight, and although he had won, he didn't walk away without any injuries. Zack was a smooth talker, and his story wasn't all lies either, just kept the classified stuff classified. Elly's excuse for the painkillers was LAME though. She had to explain that she got electrocuted by sticking a knife in the toaster. Elly unfortunately wasn't as smooth though, and it took a call from Elly's legal guardian, Kozou Fuyutski (just in name because Elly needs a registered guardian) to verify her story, and her prescription.

Things were going much better for Shinji and Asuka though. More for Shinji than Asuka anyhow. Shinji was the spectacle of the cooking class, being the only male student in the class. So this meant every girl in the class had their eyes set on him. And with Asuka wanting to keep their relationship discreet, that fact wasn't helping at all. So Asuka had started spreading a rumour around saying Shinji had a crazy, bitchy, psychotic girlfriend who would kill any of the girls if she found them with their hands on Shinji.

Friday was also cooking day, and so a few kids, Shinji included were cooking up a wonderful apple crisp for the rest of the class. And they would have the teacher do the lecture for the second half of the class.

While the teacher was teaching, Asuka was on her laptop checking out what the others were talking about in the chat rooms. Apparently, her rumour that she had spread was working efficiently, as the other girls were going to be afraid of whoever the psycho girl Asuka had talked about was true.

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Science Class (H stands for Hydrogen. Cl stands for Chlorine)

Elly was still having trouble getting used to the effects of the electricity. All the muscles in her body didn't feel like they should. It was difficult to walk and move, as her muscles were tight from the shocks she got at the hands of the Ron. The painkillers were meant to blot out the pain she was in. She checked the clock in the classroom. It was 10:00am right now. She figured she could take another pill at 12:00pm and that should last the rest of the school day…

"Elly Simpson, answer the question. What element does sodium stand for?" said the teacher, snapping her out of her thought.

Luckily it was an easy one for Elly. She had spent a few days checking on the notes for the days ahead, so she could answer, and not look like an idiot. "The answer is Na." Good, that would keep Mr. Pitts off her back for a while.

"Very good," replied the teacher. "It's good to see you weren't doing nothing while you were at the hospital."

And so Elly decided to pay attention to the rest of the class just in case she got hit with a question she didn't know and wouldn't get scrutinized for not playing attention. Mr. Pitts really was the pits and would be more than ready to fail anyone who dared to cross him.

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Gendo Ikari's Office

Gendo Ikari was once more doing work in his office. For a while now, he was wondering if they could use the S2 organ that Unit 01 ingested for when they had to fight the Black Angels in the future. According to what Dr. Akagi had said, it was possible to draw power from it, so it could be used. On top of that, he had also ordered that they make a prototype S2 organ as well not long after the aborted 3rd Impact.

Suddenly, a phone call had come in. It was Dr. Akagi. "Yes," he said into the phone.

"Commander, we have good news about the prototype S2 organ."

This was good to hear, right as he was thinking about it too. Convenient. "How is it coming along?"

"The prototype is completed sir," replied the doctor.

"Good. I wish for it to be installed in Unit 02," the commander responded. "I want to try to activate Units 01 and 02 with the S2 organs as soon as possible."

"Understood." Dr. Akagi then hung up.

So hopefully in a day or two, two of his EVAs could be able to function in combat as long as they needed to. If the prototype was successful, then they would be able to build S2 organs for the other EVAs. With nothing more to do, he called the cafeteria and ordered a coffee.

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Now we skip ahead to the end of the day and Phys Ed class

The class was waiting out in the gymnasium, cringing at the thought of Coach Thunder showing up. Much to their great dismay, the big American brute showed up in the gym, gum being chewed with clipboard in hand.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS SITTING AROUND FOR?" he yelled. "GET YOUR LAPS IN NOW DAMMIT!" He was already expecting them to be running when he got out there.

Zack went up to Coach Thunder. "Uhh, Coach. I got this doctor's note that tells me to refrain from any physical activity until my ribs are healed."

Coach Thunder looked at the note for about 5 seconds. He unfolded a wheelchair that he had in his pack. "YOU SEE THIS WHEELCHAIR? WHEEL YOUR LAPS IN IT! GO! GO! GO!

So as Zack had the task of wheeling around the gym, Elly showed Coach Thunder her doctor's note.

"YOU SEE THIS OTHER WHEELCHAIR? YOU WILL BE USING THIS ONE! NOW GET GOING!"

Now Elly was also wheeling around the gym in a wheelchair. It was pretty embarrassing to say the least.

While they were running, Shinji and Asuka ran at the same pace so they could share a few words.

"So Shinji," she said as she was running. "Who do you think is worse? This guy? Or Misato with no beer?"

Shinji chuckled and panted at the same time, and almost hiccupped. "Obviously it's Misato without beer AND having Kaji in the present area too. As for Coach Jerk, maybe we stepped on his house during an Angel attack."

Now Asuka was laughing out loud in response to Shinji's comment. However, what happened next made them stop laughing. Coach Thunder happened again. "HEY IKARI! SOHRYU! WHEN YOU TWO ARE FINISHED KISSING I GOT MORE LAPS FOR YA!"

Asuka was ready to let off a chain of German swear words when Shinji told her there was no point because they would get more laps.

Once everyone was done their five laps, and Asuka and Shinji done their ten laps, they all had to do their usual warm-ups, when Coach Thunder brought out four utility balls. (You know, those rubber balls you would use in gym class when you were young) Coach Thunder then divided the class into two teams, with Asuka, Shinji, and Ivana on one team, and Toji, Hikari, Kensuke and Rei on the other team.

"OKAY! YOU BRATS ARE GOING TO PLAY DODGEBALL! AND I EXPECT YOU TO SHOW NO MERCY! I DON'T CARE IF IT MEANS TAKING YOUR FRIEND'S HEAD OFF! NO FUCKING MERCY!" Thunder boomed. His voice echoed off the gym walls. "YOU CAN HIT YOUR OPPENENTS ANYWHERE! YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE RULES!"

And so the game began. Ivana and Toji, being the hardest throwers on the floor, were obviously front liners, being able to hit their opponents with devastating hard throws. Asuka, Kensuke and Rei were more likely to be in the middle row, catching the balls that got by the front row people. Shinji and Hikari… back row. They were the ones catching the balls that got by everybody, and staying as far away as possible from the missile-like throws from the front liners like Toji and Ivana.

WOOSH! A ball shot by Shinji's head.

"C'mon Shinji! Let 'em have it!" yelled Zack from the sidelines.

"It's too dangerous," yelled back Shinji as he ducked another ball and picked up another.

"If you got the ball, then they fear you," said Zack. "Show them that they should fear you!"

'Yeah,' thought Shinji to himself, feeling the power that he now possessed as a ball carrier. He boldly advanced to the frontlines, not feeling afraid of the balls that zipped by. He quickly eyed the opponent's field. He could choose either Rei or Kensuke as his targets.

Kensuke and Rei both realized that Shinji had a ball and was locked in his crosshairs. So they took a step back. Shinji then tried an old trick that people always would get him with. He took a step with his eyes locked on Rei, and without hesitation, launched the ball at Kensuke, nailing him right in the chest.

Shinji had finally gotten someone. After all this time, he had finally taken someone out of the game.

WHAM!

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"Shinji."

What was that? Who was calling him? That voice sounded beautiful.

"Shiiinnnji."

Whoever it was who had that beautiful voice, was calling him again. Apparently he must have fallen asleep somewhere. It was a girl's voice trying to call to him. So he figured he should respond quickly so as not to keep her waiting.

"Shinji! Wake up dammit!"

"Yaaahhhh!" That last call wasn't as nice as the others, and it startled him into consciousness. He was lying in a bed in what he assumed to be the nurse's office. He looked around. He saw Asuka standing over him. She must have brought him here, or at least watched over him as he slept. "Asuka? How'd I get here?"

"Mein gott, you must have mild amnesia. You got the wind knocked out of you while we were playing dodgeball."

Shinji's memory began to come back. "Oh yeah, I remember. I managed to hit Kensuke with the ball…"

Asuka finished for him. "Then the other Stooge threw a rocket at you right in the chest. You were out cold before you hit the ground. You're lucky I caught you, otherwise you'd have a concussion to go along with getting winded."

Now Shinji felt the slight pain in the chest area. "What time is it?"

"It's 3:30pm," replied the redhead. "School ended about 40 minutes ago. So are you gonna come or are you gonna sleep here tonight and leave me all alone?"

"Sorry. Just give me a minute."

Five minutes later, the two were walking back home from school, when Shinji got an idea. "Hey Asuka, I got an idea."

"Wow. You actually have an idea. What is it?"

"I know this great place we can have dinner at," said Shinji. "If you don't mind, I'd like to treat you to dinner tonight. See it as my thanks for helping me out today."

Asuka's face had lit up like a lamppost. "That's probably the best idea you've had today. I'd love to go at your expense. We'll have to tell Misato what we're doing. It's my turn to cook tonight. So Misato will cook in my place." Asuka's grin grew even bigger. "I'd love to see the look on Casanova's face when he finds out Misato is cooking tonight. His broken ribs will be the least of his worries."

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Misato's Apartment

"Asuka! Shinji! NO! You can't do this to us! I'd rather fight a Black Angel than suffer from Misato's cooking!" Zack was not pleased about the fact that Shinji and Asuka wanted to go out for dinner by themselves and have to suffer the wrath of Misato's always horrible cooking.

"Suck it up Casanova," said Asuka. "And don't even think about trying to stop me. If you try to stop me, I'll make sure your ribs puncture your lungs and you can drown in your blood. Besides, Misato gave us the okay to go."

"Why me…" muttered Zack. Once Asuka went into her room to get ready, Zack pulled something out of the couch. It was a bottle with a pink liquid inside. "It's a good thing I brought tons of this stuff from Canada. Pepto Bismol will help soothe my soon to be upset stomach after dinner. Knowing Ivana and Rei, they may need some too."

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"So Shinji, what place did you have in mind?" asked Asuka as they walked down the road. Asuka had changed out of her school uniform and had now changed into some street clothes. She was wearing a red t-shirt, and blue short shorts. It was a warm September night, so she didn't have to bundle up.

"Oh it was this place Zack found," replied Shinji. "He said it was a bar and grill called 'Shoeless Joe's'. The food there he said was supposed to be awesome." Shinji was wearing plain brown pants, and a white t-shirt, which was something similar to the school uniform he had. Typical plainness for Shinji.

As they made their way to this restaurant, they would appear to be an odd couple. What looked like a plain, boring guy with a really hot babe for a girlfriend.

Suddenly Shinji had a question out of the blue. "Hey Asuka. During gym class after I was knocked out, what happened afterwards?"

"It was rather funny. Coach Thunder got so pissed off at first because he thought you were trying to fake it at first. But he got even angrier when he found out you really were out for the count, and in frustration told me and Ivana to drag you to the nurse's office. And I stayed there until you regained consciousness."

Shinji breathed a sigh of relief. "Then what happened?"

Asuka then continued. "Well, according to Hikari, Coach Thunder challenged the whole class to a game of dodgeball. He said if we could hit him once, he would be really nice for the rest of the year. That big lug just wanted to show off. He won too."

"What an ass," replied Shinji. "What made him so angry at the world? Was he abused by his parents or something?"

"That would about do it," chuckled Asuka. "Is this the place?" she asked pointing at a building.

"Yeah, that's it. Shoeless Joes."

And so, our favourite (and somehow functional) couple went inside. The place was loud, and full of activity. There were booths where patrons who just wanted to eat would sit, and there was a bar section for people if they wanted to have a few beers.

A waiter came to seat them. "Ah, a young couple. Smoking or non-smoking?"

"Non-smoking please," said Shinji.

"Follow me." Shinji and Asuka followed the waiter until he led them to an unoccupied booth. Once they had sat down, the waiter offered to get them both drinks. Shinji opted for a Coke, and Asuka opted for a Pepsi.

"I think you're tastes are getting better Shinji," said Asuka. "This place has a lively atmosphere. I think you should stay outside of your shell. It's doing you good."

"If you say so," replied Shinji.

Just then, the waiter came back with their drinks. "Now then, are you two ready to order?"

"I'll order a pound of medium spiced chicken wings," said Shinji.

"And I'll have an order of extra hot chicken wings," said Asuka.

"Very well," replied the waiter as he took the menus away.

Now Shinji and Asuka had a moment to themselves. "So Asuka, what do you want to do when this is all over?" Shinji asked.

"I don't know," replied Asuka. "Originally I planned to go back to Germany as a hero after the Angels. But apparently," pointing at Shinji. "A certain someone has made me want to stay in boring old Japan. As for a career, I would probably want to be a doctor. And if I'm lucky, the man I'll one day marry will have a good enough job that I won't have to work."

Shinji blushed at the thought of one day marrying Asuka. He pictured himself fainting at the altar and Asuka throwing a fit at him for ruining the wedding. Now Asuka asked him the question. "What do you want to do when this is all over?"

"Uh, let's see. I guess I would want to just live a normal life as a normal person. I know I'm a good cook, so I guess I would one day want to be a chef and maybe own my own restaurant."

"Would you get married one day?" asked Asuka with her eyes glowing more than usual. Apparently, Asuka was comfortable with the topic of marriage when it was just her and Shinji.

"I guess so," said Shinji. "I figure I would be marrying the most beautiful girl that ever graced Japan with her presence."

"That's so sweet of you Shinji." Asuka probably would have crawled over to Shinji's booth and kissed him, but their dinner arrived. The thought of dinner made Asuka have a nasty thought. "Speaking of dinner, I wonder how Casanova is faring with Misato and her cooking."

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Misato's Apartment

Zack was in a lot of pain. His chest felt like it was going to explode. Misato's attempt at a beef and rice casserole dish was a complete and utter failure! He was surprised at how Rei and Ivana made it through this. He could tell from the look on their faces that it had tasted like cat hair mixed in with puke and porridge left in the pot for ten days.

He stumbled over to the couch, being careful not to aggravate his broken ribs. He reached inside the couch and found what he was looking for. The bottle of Pepto Bismol. He whipped out a teaspoon and gave himself two teaspoons of the medicine. It would only be a matter of time before Misato's latest attempt at cooking would become a mere memory.

"Rei! Ivana! Come here! I have the instant cure for Misato's poor excuse for a dinner dish!"

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On the way home

"That place sure was lively," said Asuka as the two made their way back home. They had stayed there for about two hours before finally leaving the restaurant.

"It was a little too noisy for me," replied Shinji. "Maybe we should go again when it isn't so noisy."

"Don't worry about it! I had a great time. You picked a great place to go!" It was later now, and it got a tad colder. "Damn! Why did I have to wear these shorts?"

"Appeal?" suggested Shinji.

"You wish." Asuka suddenly stopped in her tracks. "I'm cold and tired. Can you carry me?"

And that was that. He didn't have much choice in the matter. He knew the trip home would be a long one. Regardless, Shinji picked her up with one hand under her back, and the other under her legs. Asuka then wrapped her arms around Shinji, trying to absorb any warmth he gave off.

"That's better," said Asuka. "You're so warm."

The rest of the trip home was rather quiet. It would take about fifteen minutes to get home. And so, fifteen minutes later, Shinji and Asuka finally made it home. "Asuka. We're home."

There was no response from the redhead. All he could hear was her rhythmic breathing. She had fallen asleep in his arms. It was difficult, but he managed to open the door and not have to put her down. Once he was inside, he saw a note on the wall. It was meant for him and Asuka.

Shinji and Asuka,

Misato decided to try her hand at attempting to cook a casserole dish. I will not go into details about what it was like. Apparently, I, Zack, and Rei all got upset stomachs after dinner. After taking some of Zack's Pepto Bismol, I suggested we should sleep it off and hopefully we'll all feel better tomorrow. I hope your time together was much enjoyed. Good night comrade.

Ivana

PS: Misato passed out.

'So that explains why everyone is already sleeping,' thought Shinji to himself. 'I guess I'll call it in too.'

He carried Asuka into their room and tucked her into bed. He then also crawled in next to her and tried to go to sleep. Strangely though, he heard Asuka talk in her sleep.

"Hi… I'm Asuka… Langley… Ikari…"

Shinji thought about that for a second. It had a nice ring to it. 'Maybe one day,' he thought before exhaustion finally caught up and surpassed him.

A/N: Whew! That was quite a chapter! 41 and still going strong! Remember, you have until November 25 to cast your vote for the next "Zany Antic". Until 42, be cool!

OMAKE

Finally, Shinji and Asuka got their chicken wings. Asuka sure was hungry. And without hesitation, she took a bite into one of her wings. It tasted good but… there was no spice!

"Hey! What's the idea! These wings aren't hot at all!"

But then it hit Asuka. If her wings weren't hot… then Shinji's must be… "Shinji? Did our wings get switched?"

She looked at Shinji. He had taken a bite of a wing, but his face was completely red.

"YAAAAHHHH! HOT! HOT!"


	42. The Secret Box

Alright! I feel like I'm on a roll! Here's Chapter 42! Prepare to laugh your ass off! Secrets will be revealed! Results will be had! Reviews will be written! (Hopefully) On with it!

WARNING: This chapter requires a little more maturity than the others. You've been warned.

"So it may not be ready to be tested. Interesting. Let me know when they are done." A click was heard in the dark room.

This was going to be a long one, Gendo Ikari figured. He had hoped to have the S2 organs at least tested to see if they could be activated this weekend. Apparently, these Angels were and are still very much beyond the human way of comprehension. Over the weekend, he decided to schedule a sync test. Everyone's scores were virtually the same except for Zack and Elly. Those two were still battling injuries and it affected their scores.

"So, all we can do for the moment… is wait." Hopefully another Black Angel wouldn't be on its way soon. This is why he preferred a scenario he could control. This time, the outcome was completely up in the air and beyond.

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Misato's Apartment (Sunday Night)

Ivana cringed at the sight in front of her. Apparently Zack had a found a new interest. His latest interest was a brown shoebox. "What are you up to?"

"I'm checking out the secret inside my secret box," replied Zack. "And the contents inside are a secret." Zack and Ivana were the only ones up right now.

Ivana shrugged. "Whatever." Ivana figured it whatever was likely to be inside to be a stash of adult magazines. She decided that she would figure it out right now. "Hand over the box."

"No," came the obvious reply.

Ivana then figured that if she was going to see inside the box, she would have to coerce him. "You are in no condition to be refusing my demand," she said while cracking her knuckles.

Zack knew what he was up against, and the condition he was in. So to avoid pain that could be compared to excessive torture, he gave in. "Okay, you win. But you only get to look once."

"A wise choice." Ivana then took the box and opened it up. She frowned at the contents of the box. "Where'd you get this?" She removed the box's content. It was a single photograph. Not just a photograph. But one of Misato… drunk.

"I got that with my camera just yesterday," replied Zack. "She was funneling beer when she was with Kaji. The bonus here is that her jacket is half off and her bra is unhooked. But as you see, not off though."

"Now what would happen if Elly were to see this picture?" Ivana decided to try blackmailing Zack. She knew he came from a rich family and could get some money out of him.

Zack saw it coming. "Nice try Ivana, but that won't work. Elly was the one who told me to take the picture, and then use the evidence against Misato some time in the future."

Ivana decided to try again. "How about I show Misato this picture tomorrow morning?"

"Go ahead. If I die, you'll be charged with accessory to murder. Besides, I'll just get a better picture for my secret box." His eyes turned towards Shinji and Asuka's room.

Ivana knew immediately what he was going to do. "You won't do that. That is sinking to an all-time low. And one you would get caught. You are like a rabid rhinoceros in a jewelry store."

Zack made a challenge. "And what makes the all-mighty super uber macho girl Ivana think she can do any better?"

Ivana couldn't turn down this challenge. "You had better be paying me for this."

"Payment will be upon success and quality of your photo."

Ivana then crept over to the sleeping couple's door. She was so quiet that one wouldn't be able to hear the wheels on the door move. Once she could see Shinji and Asuka sleeping, she whipped out a camera, a very quiet click could be heard, and she shut the door as quietly as she could.

Ivana turned around to see an impressed Zack. "Not bad," he said. "Now let's get that data uploaded onto Misato's laptop and we'll see how impressive it is."

And using a few computer gadgets Zack had the photo onscreen. Now Ivana spoke again. "So how was it? Better than you thought huh? This photo would definitely get you murdered by Asuka if she found out this photo was shown around school."

"Especially Shinji too. He would also be dead. Look where his hand is."

"Not entirely," countered Ivana. Take a better look at Asuka's face."

So Zack did as she suggested. And he was shocked at what he saw. "What? She's awake? And she's smiling too? I think Misato and her behaviour is starting to rub off on her. This is definitely going in the secret box!" And with that, he snuck his new secret picture in.

"Pay up." Ivana wanted her money that she deserved.

Zack then whipped out a checkbook with Canadian flags in the background. "Pay… to the order of Ivana Kharlamov. One thousand dollars and nine cents."

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Next Day

Today was like any other Monday morning. The kids were getting ready for school. But as everyone was sitting at the table, Shinji, Asuka, and Pen-Pen were wondering what Zack was doing with a shoe box.

"What the hell are you doing with a box?" snapped Asuka as she always did at Zack.

"It's my secret box," replied Zack. "Within this box lies a very great and powerful secret."

"Whatever. Let's see this great secret of yours." Asuka tried to reach for the box, but Zack made sure to stay out of her reach.

"NO! Nobody can know my secret! It s for me only to bear witness to." Zack had now gotten up from the table and ran back into the living room.

"Whatever," said Asuka. She grabbed Shinji's arm. "C'mon let's go already!" And with that. She dragged Shinji out the door.

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Atop a rooftop

A hooded man watched over the city like he always had. The fact that Oholah and Ohlibah were beaten had definitely surprised him indeed. He had honestly thought the 3rd and 4th would actually defeat the EVA pilots.

"Ah, what a glorious day this is," said the man. "A glorious day for disaster." The man then whipped out a cell phone. A few rings went by when a gruff voice on the other line answered.

"Yes Master. What is your request?" It was Keel, the head of SEELE

The hooded man then proceeded with his demand. "I believe the time for Saul to awaken is near. What do you think?"

"I see. He can be awakened soon then." Keel paused for a moment. "What is Saul like anyway?"

"Saul is definitely different from the others so far. Sometimes not having a solid shape and actually be a being of pure plasma can have its advantages. Summon him when you're ready." The hooded man then hung up. "I wonder Keel, I wonder if you know what I'm really planning."

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Shinji and Asuka had already taken off for school, leaving the others behind back at Misato's apartment. Shinji was focused on getting through the day. Asuka though was rather distracted. Shinji noticed this and decided to inquire. "What's on your mind Asuka?"

Asuka snapped out if her thought and responded. "Oh it's Casanova and his stupid secret box. I just can't stop wondering what's inside it."

"It's probably a bunch of adult magazines. I've seen some of his magazines lying around. Surprisingly Misato hasn't found any of them yet."

Asuka looked him in the eye. "You don't get it do you?" She got more hysterical. "What if that pervert has a picture of us where I let you feel a little more than most guys should?"

Now Shinji thought about that for a moment. If Zack really had a photo of him and Asuka sharing a very odd moment, it would be the end of their reputations. But they still had a factor on their favour. "Don't worry Asuka, he wouldn't dare. I'm sure Ivana wouldn't let Zack show a picture like that around the school."

"But look who he's hooked up with. Miss Pink! She'll flap her flapper like 4th Impact is tomorrow!" said Asuka.

"Why don't we ask Ivana to help us out?" suggested Shinji. "If he talks, Ivana will crush him."

This made Asuka feel better. "Yeah, and she'll send his cracked ribs out his back and onto a barbecue! Thanks for the assurance." To Shinji's shock, she pulled him into a deep kiss.

Little did they know that a few of their classmates from their first period class were watching Shinji and Asuka kiss from across the street. And they knew of the rumours of Shinji's alleged psychotic girlfriend.

"Oh my god! It's Asuka!"

"She's the psychopath!"

"We'd better stay away from Shinji or she'll kill us!"

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First Period Japanese Class

The regular sexy teacher that Zack, Ivana, Toji, and Hikari had was ill today. So some miserable grunt in his sixties was taking her place. While he was teaching the class, he noticed that Zack had a shoebox on his desk.

"Harper. What is that container?" the substitute asked.

Zack spoke up as if what he was saying was really important. "Whadya think? It's my secret box! It carries a great and mighty secret!"

The teacher was not impressed. "Would you then mind showing your great secret to the class?"

Zack gave the teacher a look of mock shock now. "Absolutely not! I must protect my secret at all costs!"

The teacher was still not impressed. "I will give you two choices. Hand over the box, or go to the office."

"Way ahead of you _asshole_!" Zack was already on his way out the door.

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Office

The principal was not happy about Zack causing trouble over the contents of a shoebox. "Now Mr. Harper, I've heard all about your exploits throughout elementary school. But I am willing to compromise with you."

Zack was intrigued by the offer. "Go on," he replied.

"Simple. Hand over the box and its contents, and you can walk out of here. Or refuse and certain people will know of your extremely BAD school records, and you'll have trouble progressing in post-secondary education."

Zack got freaked out. He knew he was… troubled throughout his early life. Those records needed to be destroyed and fast. "Can I make a few calls first?"

The principal knew he was squirming and wanted him to keep squirming. "Go ahead."

Zack went into a private room and whipped out his cell phone. He dialed a number. And then pushed a few more numbers. And listened to the catchy tune as he waited for the call to go through.

The call went through. "What," was the answer.

"Ah Commander. Just who I needed to talk you," said Zack into the phone.

"What is it? Hurry up." Gendo had no patience.

"Uh… can you your intelligence to delete my school records? They're coming back to haunt me."

"No. Do not bother me with this again." Gendo immediately hung up after that.

Zack was determined to not give up. "I won't give up. This bastard will not screw up my school life, and I won't give up my secret box!"

Another number called. This time, he called Vice-Commander Fuyutski. "Yes."

"Can you delete my school records?"

"No I can't. Sorry." He hung up too.

"I'm not out yet!" So Zack dialed another number. Later… "Dr. Akagi?"

"No."

"Lt. Ibuki?"

"I'm not authorized to do that."

"Kaji?"

"I'm a little busy at the moment! Laters!"

"Damn! I got one last card left though!" Zack dialed another number.

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It had been about 20 minutes since Zack had left class. Ivana figured he went down with the ship trying to protect his secret box. Well, the teacher was an asshole she figured out, because he kicked out another student for contradicting him.

Suddenly, she heard a quiet tune. The tune was of the Russian national anthem. She then remembered it was her cell phone. Damn! She had forgotten to turn it off. So she quickly answered it. Being at the back of the class, she could hide behind several people and yet take the call. "What is it?" she whispered into the cell phone.

"Hey Ivana. Did I mention you looked great today?" It was Zack.

Ivana frowned. "Why are you calling me?"

"Because you're the only person left I could call. The principal's forcing me to show him the contents of the secret box. I called the Commanders, Dr. Akagi, Lt. Ibuki to see if they could delete my records, which I should mention he's trying to use against me, and now it's just you," replied Zack over the phone.

Ivana had another question for him. "Why couldn't you call Misato?"

Zack had an answer for that too. "If Misato found out about my secret box's contents, she'll tell the lovebirds and I'll be screwed. She goes through all my stuff anyway. So I have to protect my box. I wouldn't be surprised if she found my stash already."

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Misato's Apartment

Misato was feeling bad about her body. She went snooping amongst Zack's stuff. And she had come across his collection of hidden adult magazines. She was staring at the pictures and she felt disappointed with what she saw.

"You know Pen-Pen, I wish I had a body like that," she said as she flipped through the pages. "What would you think if I had a body like hers?" she asked showing him a page with the suggested picture on it.

"WARK!" came the penguin's response as he was looking at another magazine.

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"Point taken," said Ivana. "So what do you want me to do?"

"You got connections to the KGB. Can you eliminate my school records? Or at least all the bad parts?"

Ivana's frown quickly turned into a smile. She could have Zack at her mercy again. And get more money out of him. "It'll cost you, you know that."

"Fine. Can you do it though?"

"Just give me a few minutes." Ivana then hung up the phone, tucked it away, and raised her hand.

The teacher saw this and answered. "Yes Miss Kharlamov?"

Ivana asked in a sweet voice. "Can I be excused for a few minutes?"

The teacher replied with a gruff "Hurry up."

So Ivana left as quickly as she could. She darted outside where she could be alone for a few minutes. She dialed a number into her cell phone. She began to speak in Russian with the person on the other side of the conversation.

A/N: For the moment, the italics will be Ivana speaking in Russian.

"_Yes_. _That is what I need you to do_. _I want you to delete all negative records that have to do with Zack Harper_." A pause goes by while Ivana listens to the details. "_Good_. _So you can do it_?" Another pause goes by. "_Thank you Sergei_. _Do you think you could retain for me a copy of all the bad things he has done_?" Ivana listens some more. "_For entertainment purposes_. _I wouldn't mind knowing what that bonehead has been up to during his school life_."

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Principal's Office

The principal was still looking as smug as ever when Zack came back into his office. "So Mr. Harper, will you hand over the contents of your secret box?"

Zack gave him the same look. "No."

The principal gave him a look of mock disappointment. "Oh well, I guess the certain people will have to know about your bad records."

"What bad records?" asked Zack with his grin growing bigger.

"These records." The principal tried to bring them up. But there were no bad records at all. "What? What is this? But how?"

"You see," said Zack. "I'm a good boy. Now I'll be on my way." He went out the door and returned to class.

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SEELE Meeting room

SEELE 03: So. It's time for the 5th to show himself.

SEELE 09: According to the boss, this will happen tomorrow

SEELE 12: It's about time.

SEELE 06: Relax. NERV is a much more formidable adversary than we gave them credit for. Planning their destruction will take careful planning.

SEELE 10: So tomorrow, we get to watch NERV squirm for another plan to defeat our newest ally.

A/N: I figure that this chapter may be relatively disappointing. I'll make it up by making sure that the next chapter will be a battle. If you haven't voted on the Zany Antics, then you have until November 25. The Pen-Pen idea is looking very strong, and I have an idea in the works, but if you wish, you can vote for the others to catch up. Until 43, be cool!

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Epilogue Misato's Apartment (Late at night)

"Okay Zack, pay up." Ivana had helped him out with the student records, and was now demanding the money she deserved.

"True, so true. Since you helped me out, you get extra." Zack got out his Canada themed checkbook and wrote Ivana another check, this time for two thousand dollars and nine cents. "Okay I'm going to bed. Hopefully there won't be a Black Angel tomorrow. G'night!"

"Good night comrade." Ivana made her way to hers and Rei's room. Once she shut the door, she changed into some pajamas, turned on her reading light, pulled some papers out of her bag and began to read the contents on the page.

This is what she saw.

_Dear Ivana,_

_These are the records we have gotten. We only gave you all the bad records we found. This was a real riot with the guys here at the KGB. We hope you had as much fun reading these as we did,_

_Sergei, your commanding officer in Moscow_

Zack Harper's Major School Infractions

Told principal to f-off on first day (J.K.)

Beat up kids who tried to steal his snacks (J.K.)

Mooned a speaker during an assembly (J.K.)

Broke a window with toys he was throwing around the room (S.K.)

Hit several kids with chalk filled erasers (S.K)

Threw raw eggs at kids (S.K)

Punched a schoolyard monitor (Grade 1)

Urinated on a teacher's car (Grade 1)

Urinated in the class aquarium (Grade 1)

Fed test mice to a stray cat (Grade 2)

Tried to bribe teacher for a good mark on a test (Grade 2)

Shot at birds with slingshot (Grade 3)

Shot "nerds" with a slingshot (Grade 3)

Flushed a cherry bomb down the toilet (Grade 3)

Exposed the ignorance of the school faculty (Grade 4)

Sexually harassed a teacher with a meter stick (Grade 4)

Belched the national anthem (Grade 4)

Dueled another student with meter sticks (Grade 4)

Organized a gang that threw snowballs at other students (Grade 5)

Planted a bee hive in the teacher's desk drawer (Grade 5)

Set off firecrackers in the teacher's lounge (Grade 5)

Detonated theSanta Claus sculptureduring the Christmas concert (Grade 6)

Belched during school church ceremony into the microphone (Grade 6)

Buried students in the sand pit (Grade 6)

Sold adult magazines to students (Grade 7)

Fought with student over a bottle of whisky with whisky bottles (Grade 7)

Filmed his own version of "Jackass" using other students as actors (Grade 7)

"Teepeed" the entire school (Grade 7)

Coordinated an uprising of kindergarteners (Grade 7)

Ivana was now laughing out loud. It eventually woke up Rei. "Why are you laughing?" Rei inquired.

"Oh I'm just reading about all the bad infractions that Zack committed," said Ivana. She handed the papers to Rei. "Ignore the top bit because it's in Russian. Just read the list."

Rei did as Ivana suggested. As she read the list, she seemed slightly shocked at some of the infractions. "Some of these infractions could cause expulsion. How many times was Pilot Harper expelled?"

"According to his records, about four times despite the good grades."

"I see," said Rei.

"Don't tell Zack that we know about all of us. It would cause… problems," said Ivana.

Rei agreed. "Understood. We should get some rest now. Good night."

"Good night Rei."

And the two pilots quickly found rest.


	43. Saul

A/N: Well, it looks like the new system works like a charm. I can respond to the reviewers and send any other necessary messages through the system. So that means less rambling, and more of what we all love: Fanfictions! On with it!

Keel was in his secret room in a secret place, barely known to the other members of SEELE. He remembered the great feeling of oneness that he had when 3rd Impact was initiated. And that was abruptly ruined by Gendo Ikari's son. They had then resorted to hiring terrorists in pathetic attempts at revenge. Obviously, that didn't work either. But then, they came along. The two that gave them the power of the Black Angels at their command, and the opportunity to trigger 4th Impact and realize the feeling of oneness once more. Keel had to have it. It was like an addiction to him. He would do it at all costs. He knew it would happen again. Although NERV may kill off some of the Black Angels, it was definitely fun watching them squirm like they did during the first seventeen Angels.

But now Keel had much more important matters, such as the task in front of him. He knelt down like he did before in front of the pentagram symbol. "Ancient forces of the Diablos. I humbly call upon thee to awaken one of your own from the depths of Hell! Now Saul! Awaken and come forth!"

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Misato's Apartment

"Shush Shinji. Be quiet and pay attention." It was early in the morning, and Asuka was already up to something.

"So what are we doing again?" asked Shinji. He was still very confused as to what Asuka wanted to do.

Asuka had to explain and quickly. "Casanova left his secret box by his pullout couch and he's in the kitchen. Chances are, he'll come back and get his box. YOU need to keep him distracted while I find out what his great secret is."

"How should I distract him?"

Shinji was obviously not awake according to Asuka's standards. "Oh just say something that'll keep his attention. Girls, sports, perverted stuff. As long as it keeps him planted. Got it?"

"Yeah I get it," said Shinji.

"Good. Once we find out his secret, we'll be able to use it against him. And there will be a reward for your troubles as well. Now go!"

So Shinji slinked off into the kitchen. He saw Zack, Rei, Ivana, and Misato all sitting down at the table eating breakfast.

Zack noticed Shinji come into the kitchen and gave him a warm welcome. "Shinji! My best bud! What's wrong? You look tired! Is Asuka still keeping you up all night?"

The other females except Rei frowned at Zack ridiculous and totally uncalled for comment. But Shinji, knowing what he had to do, was to keep Zack distracted. He decided to come up with something quick. "Zack, I need advice on girls," he said, thinking of the first thought that came to his mind.

Ivana and Misato were shocked at what Shinji asked, and Rei kept on eating. Zack was more than happy to answer his best bud's question. "Ah, girl trouble I see. Ask, and I will answer."

So while Zack was answering whatever Shinji had, Asuka crept closer to where Zack kept most of his stuff. After a quick search, she found the prize. The secret box. Casanova was such an idiot to have left this lying out. She crept closer… closer… reached out with her hands to grab it…

Suddenly, the city alarm went off! With a few German swear words, Asuka then darted out the door, followed by the others within about two seconds.

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NERV HQ – Battlestation

"So what do we have so far?" asked Dr. Akagi. Looks like another Black Angel had dared to show itself.

"We don't know that much right now," replied Makoto. "Apparently, it looks like a giant blue blob. We don't know what substance the target is made of. We not even sure what capabilities it can do. Strangely enough, there's no AT Field being emitted from it either."

Shigeru then spoke up. "What we do know, it that it's emitting a Black Waveform pattern, thereby confirming it's the Fifth Black Angel. It's floating right above the city, just out of arm's reach of our EVAs."

Gendo Ikari was watching these events unfold. "Go to First Stage Alert. What's the status of the pilots?"

Maya gave the Commander his answer. "Major Katsuragi's pilots have just arrived. And the Seventh Child is suited up and ready to go."

Gendo was concerned about this Black Angel. According to the data the MAGI had so far, this Black Angel wasn't even capable of attacking or defending itself, let alone be able to emit an AT Field. It may as well just be sitting there, waiting patiently for someone to make the wrong move, acting like it can't do anything.

Fuyutski then asked a question. "Couldn't we destroy it with conventional weapons? If it has no AT Field, then we wouldn't even need the EVAs."

"Apparently, they weren't able to," said Makoto. "The UN reported making direct hits on it, but every time the smoke cleared, it came out completely unharmed. And machine gun fire just passes right through it."

"Then we'll have to destroy it ourselves," declared Gendo. "What's the medical status of the Sixth and Seventh?"

Now it was Dr. Akagi's turn to speak. "It would be dangerous for the Sixth to go out with his ribs in the condition they're in. As for the Seventh, she also isn't medically cleared yet."

"I see. Launch the other EVAs and leave them on standby. They will only be launched in case of an emergency."

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EVA Launch Bay

"This is an odd one kids," said Misato as she began her quick brief. "This Black Angel looks like a giant blob. And strangely enough, it can't attack or defend itself either."

"Anything else?" asked Shinji as he sat in Unit 01's entry plug.

Dr Akagi answered his question. "Yes. Strangely enough, it doesn't have an AT Field. But for some reason the UN couldn't destroy it. We think it's waiting for some opportunity to strike. So approach it carefully and if it starts doing anything strange back off. Understand?

"Understood," said Rei.

"Yes ma'am," said Shinji.

"Got it," replied Asuka.

"Uh, yes ma'am," came Toji's response.

"Yes ma'am," said Ivana.

"Yes ma'am!" said Zack with a mock salute. "Let's rock and roll!"

"Let's kick some Black Angel ass!" shouted Elly.

Misato then gave the official order. "Units 00, 01, 02, 03, 04 LAUNCH!"

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Tokyo-3 – If your pathetic life has some value in it, go to a shelter, otherwise get stomped

With an order of a loose star formation, the five EVAs started from the city's outskirts standing where a star's five points would be. They each saw the blob, just hovering in the middle of the city, doing virtually nothing. They slowly inched towards the blob, hoping to find a way to eliminate it once and for all. Shinji had two pellet guns. Rei had a positron rifle. Asuka had a progressive ax. Toji had a rocket launcher, and Ivana had a double bladed progressive sword.

Once they were within 500 meters, they were given the order to wait by Commander Ikari to see if it would do anything.

"Great. How long do we have to wait?" asked Asuka. "What's the point?"

"We want to see how it may react to something that appears to be a great threat. The EVAs are a threat to its existence. Sometimes the most dangerous enemies are the ones who seem to be the most harmless," replied Dr. Akagi.

"Fine," said Asuka. "Humph!"

And so they waited for about one hour. And the Black Angel did nothing. Toji wasn't sure how much longer he could wait. The stress and anxiety was getting to him. They could be waiting out here for hours. Suddenly, Toji cracked. He snapped up his rocket launcher and fired a rocket!"

Everyone watched as the rocket flew at the Black Angel. The rocket made contact with the target. As a result, the target exploded, with chunks of its body flying in every direction.

"You idiot! You were supposed to wait!" said Ivana. "Now who knows what it'll do."

"Sorry," replied Toji. "It just got to me."

Rei then interjected. "The pieces. They're moving!"

Indeed they were. The many, many chunks began to fly back up into the sky. All the pieces seemed to be gathering there, and merging back together.

"What's going on?" asked Misato.

"The Black Angel is putting itself back together!" replied Ritsuko. "That's why the UN couldn't defeat it. Any damage it takes, it rebuilds itself. There's no need for an AT Field with capabilities like that."

Asuka now moved in to attack. With one swing of her ax, she split the demon in two. Shinji then fired off his guns at the two pieces, exploding those pieces into more pieces. But almost immediately, the pieces began to reform again.

"Damn!" shouted Shinji. "There's no destroying it. Whatever we do to it, it undoes in seconds."

"And it just stands there mocking us," added Asuka.

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NERV HQ – Battlestation

"Doctor," called Maya. "You'd better come see this."

Ritsuko immediately went over to Maya's computer screens. "What is it."

"Upon observing the Angel's patterns, it makes these blips. Some are short, some are long. It might be Morse Code or something."

Ritsuko then sat down. "Let me take a look." She then tried to translate the blips using Morse Code. Her face went from concentration to pure horror. "You're right Maya. It is Morse Code!"

Gendo now interjected. "What does it say?"

Ritsuko then looked at him with a horrified face. "It says: How well will you fare against one of your own?"

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Ivana had a theory. "Every time we damage it, it puts itself back together."

"What are you getting at?" asked Toji.

"I'm saying is that if we destroy every part of it, the Black Angel will have nothing left to regenerate with and will die. If even one piece of it survives, then it will rebuild itself."

"So what's the plan?" asked Shinji.

"The plan is this." Ivana now went into the plan. "Myself, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei will cut it down into many pieces, then Toji will use the rocket launcher and blow it away."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Toji. He just wanted to get this over with.

"I am ready," declared Rei.

"Same here," muttered Asuka.

So now the EVAs had spread around the blob in a square formation. Right as they were about to make their move. The blob suddenly jumped up higher into the air, catching them all by surprise.

"Look out!" shouted Misato over the com. "It's going to attack!"

It moved really fast. The blob suddenly came down on top of Unit 01, as if it were trying to smother it!

"Ack! Get this thing off of me!" shouted Shinji.

"NO! SHINJI!" shouted Asuka.

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NERV HQ – Battlestation (The current mood is "oh shit"!)

The whole room was thrown into panic when the blob had come down on Unit 01.

"The Black Angel is smothering Unit 01!" said Makoto.

"Severe bio-contamination!" said Shigeru

"We're losing readings on Unit 01!" said Maya. "The readings are just disappearing!

What was the Black Angel doing. "Is it trying to merge with Unit 01 and cut us off from it?" said Ritsuko. Then it hit her. "It's going to take over Unit 01! Everyone get back!" she ordered the other pilots.

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Asuka was trying to pull the blob off Unit 01. It had almost completely smothered it. Suddenly, an unknown force pushed her back. "What the hell?" shouted Asuka. "Let him go!"

Her demand went unanswered as the Black Angel had now completely absorbed Unit 01 as if it was never there.

Suddenly, the Black Angel's body shape began to change. Four streams of blob like substance then shot out from its body. Two of the streams molded into what looked like a pair of arms. The other two looked like a pair of legs. Another stream shot out from the top that appeared to be a head. It then began to mold into a shape that looked like… Unit 01?

"What the hell!" shouted Toji. "That's looks like Unit 01!"

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"Bad news!" shouted Makoto. "AT Field detected!"

"I'm getting Unit 01's property readings again!" reported Maya.

"Look!" said Shigeru. "That thing is changing into Unit 01!"

"Be careful," said Gendo. "It is very dangerous now. It's capabilities are probably equal to that of Unit 01."

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Asuka was horrified at the sight she saw. The blob had turned into Unit 01. Asuka tried to reopen the com to Shinji. But to her surprise, the com opened up to her.

"Hahahahaha! This feels great!" said Shinji. "So Asuka. What do you think? A new body, and new abilities as well."

Asuka was confused. "Shinji? What's going on!"

Shinji's face turned nasty. "I'm not Shinji you pathetic little girl! You can call me… Saul."

Now Toji spoke up again. "What did you do to Shinji?"

Saul was apparently speaking through Shinji. "It's rather simple really. I've taken control of his body, and his EVA. Now is where the real fight begins. I hope you enjoyed the free shots while you had, because from here on out, is where the pain begins." Unit 01 then assumed a battle stance.

"We have to attack," said Rei. "Get ready."

"What do you mean attack?" contradicted Asuka. "We could hurt Shinji."

"Would you rather see Shinji hurt but safe, or controlled by a Black Angel?" asked Ivana.

"Okay…" came the reply from Unit 02.

"Then let's tear him apart!" said Toji.

"THEN COME ON!"

Units 00, 02, 03, and 04 surrounded Unit 01. Then Toji attacked first. He threw a punch to Unit 01's head. Saul caught the punch easily with his left hand, then simultaneously kneed him in the chest and punched him in the face. Then picked him up and slammed him on his back.

Rei came quickly after. Rei went with a kick to the side of Unit 01. Saul caught the kick, twisted Unit 00 around until it was face down. Then slammed Rei onto her back with a 180 spin over Unit 01's head.

"Two of you already down and I'm not even trying. I'm honestly disappointed," said Saul. "Hopefully Ivana, being the macho girl Shinji knows you to be, hopefully you will put up a better fight."

Unit 04 then joined the fray. However, things went different. They quickly locked into a grapple. Asuka could only watch as the one she loved… no the demon who controlled her love wrestle with Ivana for superiority. For the first time in a while, she felt alone, scared. Was Shinji really gone? No! He couldn't be gone! It can't end like this. Asuka's world already felt like it was crashing down around her.

Suddenly, she heard something crash. It was Unit 04. Shinji… no Saul had defeated Unit 04 as well.

Saul looked at her with an evil smile. "And then… there was one. The girl he loved. If only he could see you now. Where did all that confidence go? You look like you just got caught cheating on a test."

"I am… n-not a-afraid!"

"Then why are you stuttering? This is actually quite thrilling. This is better than I thought. You are scared. He's gone. The one who truly accepted you, is gone. A part of me now. Can you feel everything slip away? Can you feel the horrors of being left alone again?"

He was right. Asuka was indeed frightened. She was in a serious dilemma. She was too afraid to attack because she could either hurt Shinji, or be killed by the hands of the boy she loved. Her world had indeed crashed. "G-go a-away," she managed to say.

"Is that all you can say. That sounds like something a third grader would say. If you thought this itself was terrifying, then you have seen nothing yet."

'Oh no,' Asuka thought to herself. 'It can't be…'

Saul then said the phrase she had dreaded to hear. "Ancient forces of the Diablos, I humbly call amongst thee to grant me your power. I cast my soul into your presence, and I am imbued with your infinite power. Now I conjure the Seal of Diablos!"

"NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!"

A circle of fire had surrounded Unit 01. It then spread out until it easily was able to contain both Unit 01 and Unit 02. Then a five point star was drawn within the circle. Asuka watched as Unit 01's eyes turned from green to red, and the mark was also on its forehead. She then feared what she might see from the com, but looked anyway. Shinji's brown eyes had turned red, and the Seal also appeared on his forehead. He looked really evil.

"Ah… that feels… good."


	44. Human Will

A/N: Wow! I can't believe the response I got to my last chapter! So the EVA pilots minus Zack and Elly are up against the latest Black Angel who appears to be totally helpless. Then all of a sudden it possesses Shinji and turns him against the others. Asuka, who loves Shinji, is frozen by the sight she sees before. A dark Shinji, who is under the control of the Black Angel Saul. But the fact that it's Unit 01 and Saul speaking through Shinji was enough to frighten Asuka to the part where her combat capabilities are now in question. To sicken the plot, Saul has cast the Seal of Diablos. If Asuka loses, she dies. If Saul loses, he could take Shinji with him. What will Asuka do? What CAN Asuka do? Find out now!

Gendo Ikari did not like to admit it, but a part of him felt a bit tense at the current situation. Apparently, the Black Angel which was supposed to be HARMLESS, was far from it. And now Saul, as the demon called itself, had now taken over Unit 01 and Shinji, and turned him against the other, stomping them like bugs. Only to prove further that Shinji was by far the best, and now Saul was exploiting that power. His remaining pilot to stand against Saul, Asuka, was showing signs that her will to fight was wavering.

Down below, Maya kept track of the sync scores and pilot conditions. "Doctor, we have another problem."

"Now what? Like we have enough problems as it is. If Asuka loses, she'll die. If Asuka wins, Shinji will die," said Dr. Akagi.

Maya showed her Unit 02's readings. "At the start of the fight, Asuka's sync level was 84. Now it's dropped down to 73!"

Misato had an answer for that. "When Asuka confessed her love for Shinji, the two eventually became inseparable. Now I figure the sight of Shinji, even though he's actually possessed, turn on Asuka, it would be enough to shatter her fragile world. The longer this battle goes, the lower and lower Asuka's sync and will to fight will go."

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"So let's get down to business shall we Asuka?" said Saul who was speaking through Shinji. "It's just you and me now. And soon, you will die at Shinji's hands!"

It would take everything she had to hang on, physically, mentally, and emotionally, to be able to think of a way out of this predicament. "Shut up, you stupid bastard!"

"Come now, you pathetic child. You are in no position to be making demands of me!" Unit 01 took a combat stance. "It's time to meet your maker!"

Asuka also took a combat stance. "No way are you going to kill me!"

"Then what's going to happen?" asked Saul. "Are you going to kill me? If I am killed, Shinji dies with me!"

'No…' thought Asuka. "I… I… I can't. I can't fight him."

"You don't have a choice!" roared Saul as Unit 01 charged forward. Asuka didn't even as much as try to defend herself when Unit 01 slammed into her, and sent her flying into the Seal wall.

Asuka was in a lot of pain. The Seal of Diablos had amplified Unit 01's power. That shoulder charge alone felt like she was hit by a 3000 ton train. She slowly made Unit 02 rise to its feet.

"That really can't be all you have," said Saul. "Please. I hope you don't have a repeat of when you couldn't fight the Angels anymore. Otherwise, this will be boring."

Asuka was now angry. "SHUT UP!" She willed Unit 02 to attack Unit 01.

Saul noticed this and was delighted. 'It's more fun when they try to fight back.' Unit 02 threw a punch at Unit 01's head in pure anger. She couldn't even land a punch though, as Unit 01 kept moving effortlessly out of the way of her every attack. "Come on! What happened to your concentration?"

Asuka didn't reply and kept throwing more punches and kicks, all in a hope to get Saul to shut up.

Saul then caught one of her kicks, and then did to Asuka what he had done to Rei, and slammed her on her back.

Asuka looked at the com. She could still see the look of evil that Saul had plastered on Shinji's face. "Why Shinji? Why did you let this happen?"

"It wasn't Shinji that let this happen," retorted Saul. "It was you. Right now Shinji is wondering why you let me take him. He's really wondering if you truly love him. Perhaps you were lying just to fulfill your own desires."

"No…" said Asuka aloud. "He wouldn't reject me… I'm sorry Shinji… FORGIVE ME SHINJI!" she said half begging half shouting the last part.

"It's too late now. The only way you can repay him for the irreparable damage you have done is to pay with your life. Then maybe he'll forgive you."

'Then I must… forfeit… and maybe…'

"Giving up already?" a voice said. It was unclear who it was in Asuka's mind at the moment.

"Who's there?" asked Asuka to the voice.

"I've been here with you the whole time."

"Shinji?"

"Yes it's me Asuka. You can't give up," said Shinji's voice that echoed through her mind.

"How can you say that?" retorted Asuka. "Saul said you gave up on me!"

The voice laughed. "Come on Asuka. You actually believed him. Those bastards will do anything to get ahead. I've believed in you for the longest time."

"But Shinji, if I kill the Black Angel, I'll kill you. I don't want you to die," said Asuka. "You're the most important thing ever to me. And I didn't act on it for so long…"

Shinji's voice replied. "I feel the same way. If you can't figure a way out with your results just yet, keep trying. But don't give up."

Asuka now had a new wave of confidence come over her. "Listen you!" she shouted at Saul. "I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I will defeat you and rescue Shinji!"

Saul thought this was funny. "Your false confidence is just a ploy to hide your fear. But if you wish to continue, then please do so." With that Unit 01 charged again.

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Maya was still watching and obtaining data on Unit 01. It may be possessed, but it was still giving off readings. "Huh? This is strange."

"What is it?" asked Ritsuko, looking over her shoulder.

"When the Black Angel possessed Unit 01, Shinji's sync ratio dropped to zero. Look at this."

Ritsuko took a look. The score was now at 9.76 and climbing. 'So Shinji's fighting back from the inside. Hopefully Asuka can hold on long enough,' thought Ritsuko. 'That kid is something else.'

A/N: I will be giving off numbers throughout the fight. That's where Shinji's sync is at, at the current moment.

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A man wearing a hood was watching the battle from afar like he did all the other times before. He was watching this battle with disapproval. "So Saul, you've resorted to attacking her heart by possessing the one she loves. I must say though, the human will is much stronger than we have given it credit for over the years. Your belief that her will will crack like glass is a dangerous assumption. Each human is drastically different from the others, and they have the potential to have a stronger or weaker will with time. Should your assumption be wrong, it will be your undoing. You fail to truly grasp the situation as a whole, and thus, there are flaws in your plan. He's sneaking up on you and you won't even see it coming."

Sync: 16

Saul attacked again. But this time Asuka managed to sidestep the beast and kicked it in the back.

Sync: 24

Saul got back up quickly. "So there is fight in you after all. Just remember that Shinji gets hurt too for every hit you land."

"So. I think Shinji would rather see me fight and never give up. He's selfless unlike you. If you lose, you're so low as to take him down with you," said Asuka. I've seen through your lies. And I will not give up!"

"So that's how it's going to be. Very well. I shall take pleasure in taking you apart piece by piece," said Saul.

Sync: 40

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"So what does the MAGI say when the sync level gets higher?" asked Fuyutski. He was also curious as to what the mystery of Shinji's sync level rising even though he was possessed.

"We think it works in reverse as to possession," said Ritsuko. "We based this on what happened with Asuka in the past. Once her sync ratio got below 15, she could no longer move the EVA. Doing the math, we believe that if Shinji, if he really is fighting back from the inside, can try to expel the Black Angel from Unit 01 if the sync can rise higher than 85.00."

"I see," said Gendo. "So this is like working in reverse. It's at 46 now from 40. And the Black Angel apparently doesn't notice because the loss of control hasn't been noticed yet."

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Unit 01 and Unit 02 were locked in a grapple. Unit 01 was supposed to be superior thanks to the power it was getting from the Seal of Diablos. But Saul had underestimated Asuka's will. Thanks to the inspiration from Shinji, it was as if Asuka had her own power source behind her.

Asuka then allowed Unit 01 to stumble into her by allowing herself to lose the grapple, but then picked up Unit 01 and threw it over her head, and it crashed into the wall of the seal.

Saul got back to his feet frustrated. "How is this possible? I had you a short while ago! This is impossible!"

Asuka had a smirk on her face. "It's simple really. I KNOW Shinji is NOT gone like you said. He's still here. He's with me in my heart. He's my light in the darkness. And if I keep grasping for that light, the darkness will never conquer all! Best of all, I think he can still hear me!"

Sync: 65 – a sharp jump thanks to Asuka's confidence, and Saul wavering ability to intimidate.

"You're wrong! Darkness defeats all! Play time is officially over!" Saul charged again at Unit 02, this time moving faster than ever, throwing all sorts of punches and kicks. It took everything Asuka had and more just to keep up. But she couldn't keep up, and he landed several hits before sending her flying into the wall.

Sync: 70

"So where is your light now?" asked Saul. "Has it gone out yet?"

"No it hasn't!" declared Asuka who was still on the ground, and struggling to get up.

"Then this'll put you out for good." Saul stretched Unit 01 arms out. Asuka could see energy being gathered in both of Unit 01's hands. The energy was coming from Unit 01's AT Field. "Does this look familiar Asuka? Surely you remember Shinji's fight with Mana Kirishima."

Asuka did remember Shinji's battle with Mana. Shinji used the technique known as the AT Cannon. Apparently he needed a 500 sync to do it. But the Black Angel must be drawing power from the Seal of Diablos to compensate. One blast from that would finish her off immediately.

Sync: 78

"So it's down to this," boasted Saul as he charged the blast. "One final shot. Do you have anything you want to say to Shinji before you die?"

"Actually I do," replied Asuka. After clearing her throat, she made her statement. "SHINJI IF I DIE BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T HELP ME, I'LL COME BACK AND HAUNT YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! AND I WILL REALLY HAUNT YOU IF YOU HOOK UP WITH WONDERGIRL! SO YOU'D BETTER GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR OR ELSE!"

"How humourous," said Saul. He now brought his hands together, forming the cannon. "See you in hell bitch! AT CANNON!"

"SHHHHIIIIIINNNJIIIIIII!"

Asuka felt the impact of the explosion. It didn't hurt as bad as she thought. Once she had opened her eyes, she noticed she was still alive, and Unit 02 was still intact. She looked up and behind her. Apparently, the AT Cannon had shot over her head, through the seal, and incinerated a mountain, just missing all the buildings too.

Saul missed.

"Huh?" said Saul, completely confused. "What happened? How did I miss?"

"I happened, that's what!" a boy's voice interjected.

"Shinji?" said a confused Asuka.

Sync: 85.76

Unit 01 now was clutching its head, synchronizing with its pilot as Asuka saw on the screen. Shinji's voice could be heard now. "Get out of my mind you bastard!"

"Yes Shinji!" yelled Asuka. "Keep fighting! You can expel that bastard!"

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"It's working!" said Ritsuko. "Shinji's now trying to expel the Black Angel from his mind and body!"

"Pilot's sync rate is now 92!" reported Maya. "He's going to hit 100 at this rate!"

"GOOOOOOO SHHHHHIIIIIINNNNJIIIIII!" cheered Misato.

"Go for it dude!" said Zack who had been quiet for the duration of the battle.

"Yeah Shinji!" yelled Elly from Unit 06's launch bay.

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Asuka continued to watch as Shinji was waging a great fight to expel Saul. And he was winning too. Saul was fighting tooth and nail to keep control, but he was losing.

"Impossible…" said Saul as he was just about to lose it. "I can't lose…"

Then Unit 01 spread its arms out into the sky, its pilot giving one last yell of might, completely expelling Saul and disintegrating him with the AT Field. The mark of the Diablos also vanished from Unit 01 and Shinji's respective foreheads, as well as their eyes returning to normal as well.

Asuka could hear the words: "The target has been eliminated." This made her almost ready to leap with joy.

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"What's the status of Unit 01 and its pilot?" inquired Gendo.

"Great news Commander," said Shigeru. "Not only is Unit 01 fine, all sources of contamination were eradicated as well."

"Good. And the others?"

"They'll be fine as well," replied Makoto.

"Good, that is all. Retrieve the EVAs and the pilots. Once that is done, return to normal alert status." Gendo then got up and left. 'Good work Shinji,' he said to himself as he left the room.

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Unit 01 Launch Bay (Watch out for redhead on loose for 3rd Child

Shinji made his way down the shaft from Unit 01. 'What a day,' he thought to himself. Being smothered by that thing was completely unpleasant, as he could feel himself doing everything Saul made him do. But he was able to get through to Asuka and stop Saul's intimidating. Once that was down, Saul wasn't that much at all. Not much more than your average bully.

Shinji head footsteps off in the distance. It was Asuka. And she was running towards him. If she was running any faster, she might have tackled him.

"Oh Shinji! Oh my god you're alive!" she said as she hugged him for everything he was worth. She then began to cry. "I almost lost you," she then said between sobs. "You were almost gone."

"I'm here Asuka," replied Shinji trying to reassure her. "Saul is gone. Everything will be fine now," he said to the crying girl in his arms.

A/N: And there you have it! The end of Saul, and hopefully the threats on my life. Hahaha, I know you were all kidding. And the deadline has passed for the next Zany Antic. The winner is… Pen-Pen's perspective! That'll be a hoot. The next deadline for the next Zany Antic is… December 10th. So get out there and vote! Until 45, be cool!


	45. SEELE Strikes Again!

A/N: Well, let's keep things going, shall we? Also, I have plans to introduce another character. This character is new, but at the same time not so new. That character will appear in this chapter. On with it!

Beginning of October. About 2 weeks after Saul

SEELE was having another meeting. They were busy with their own affairs and were now making more preparations for something else.

SEELE 01: With Saul's failure, I have come up with a new attack strategy with some assistance from our new master. 02 through 10, are your EVAs ready?

SEELE 02: Of course my EVA is ready.

SEELE 03: The chance to get revenge on Gendo Ikari has motivated me to speed up repairs on mine.

SEELE 04: Way ahead of all of you.

SEELE 05: Yes. Time to destroy NERV

SEELE 06: Yes Chairman. I am ready.

SEELE 07: Ready.

SEELE 08: Yes.

SEELE 09: I am prepared to go.

SEELE 10: Jacked up and good to go.

SEELE 11: Chairman, if I may ask. What is our master's new plan?

SEELE 12: Yes. We lost last time. And we outnumbered them 9-6. And now they have seven. What is the plan?

SEELE 01: Oh, but we have our power that we have earned from our master. With this, it would be like eighteen against seven! The Seal will swallow them all! 

All SEELE computers start laughing like the idiotic old men Gendo Ikari had always assumed them to be.

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Saturday Morning

It was a wonderful October morning in Asuka's life. She had her Shinji, Zack had left early, and she was deep into a bowl of Shinji Puffs cereal. Yes, Shinji was so famous, that someone had named a cereal after him. Shinji was sitting across from her, also having a bowl of Shinji Puffs.

"So Asuka, what do you suppose we do today?" asked Shinji.

Asuka took a moment to think. "Well, we could… go see a movie!" Her eyes glowed. "I know this awesome action movie that just came out."

Misato came in yawning like she always did in the morning. After gulping a beer, she recovered her composure. "Ah, so you two are going to a movie today? Sounds like fun!"

"I guess so," replied Shinji. "What's everyone else doing today?"

"Well, if no trouble arises today, I'm gonna go see Kaji, Ivana and Rei went down to NERV for a checkup. And Zack will stay far out of everyone's eyesight. Ever since his ribs were healed, he's been back on his feet and up to nothing but trouble."

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NERV HQ – Gendo Ikari's Office (Please turn up heat in the room)

It was another day at NERV for Gendo Ikari and the staff. They had finally installed the S2 organ in Unit 02, and hopefully, they could try to activate Unit 01 and 02 with the new power source.

He picked up the phone and called the cafeteria. He decided to have a coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. Once he was done with that, he looked at the reports from the Section 2 agents at school.

He made a note to Ritsuko to have Shinji and Asuka called in tomorrow to try to activate the EVAs using the organs. Then the use of the umbilical cable would almost be unnecessary.

Gendo took a moment to think about what happened a few weeks ago with that Black Angel. He remembered that he had barely given any orders during that time. Was he in a temporary state of shock? It was a good thing that no one else had noticed. As much as he was worried about Shinji, it would not be a good thing if he showed weakness. He reminded himself that he needed to remain in control at all times.

Right as he finished his thought, his breakfast order arrived. But as he was about to relax, the alarm went off. "Here we go again," he said aloud.

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NERV HQ – Battlestation

"I can't believe it," said Shigeru, looking at the data he was reading. "It's the EVA Series. They're back again."

"They're flying this way," reported Makoto. "All nine are in an attack formation.

"Go to First Stage Alert," ordered Fuyutski. "Are the EVAs ready to go?"

"Yes sir," replied Maya. "All seven are ready to go. And the Sixth and Seventh have medical clearances as well."

"Good," said Fuyutski. "Launch all seven in the six point star formation. Rei will take the middle position." Fuyutski put on a com to the EVA pilots. "Are you kids ready?"

"Yes sir!" all seven said in unison.

"Okay. This is how it will work. We're against the EVA Series again. Knowing our history with SEELE, expect no mercy of any kind. Also, we're using the six point star formation. And Rei will take the middle position. Now go. And make us proud."

"Unit 00 launch!" said Rei as her EVA launched up to the surface.

"Unit 01 go!" yelled Shinji. Unit 01 shot up to the surface

"Unit 02 ready to rock!" said Asuka as the red EVA was sent up.

"Unit 03 ready to kick ass!" said Toji. Up went Unit 03.

"Unit 04 launch!" said Ivana.

"Unit 05 ready to kick some corporate ass!" yelled Zack.

"Unit 06 go!" said Elly.

And thus the struggle continues.

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Once the EVAs had taken their positions in the fortress city, they waited for the EVA Series to arrive. Zack took a moment to speak. "Say if there are seven of us, and nine of them, that's one for each of us with two left over. Who gets the last two?"

"Leave that to fate," replied Ivana.

"Here they come," said Rei.

"Yeah! Time to rock and roll!" yelled Elly.

As the EVA Series flew in, the EVAs fired their machine guns, making the white behemoths scatter all about the city. The next scene was bedlam, with the EVAs trying to shoot down the EVA Series, but to so far no avail.

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SEELE Room

SEELE 12: And so they have engaged in battle.

SEELE 04: We shall win this time.

SEELE 06: We need our EVAs to land. This is going nowhere.

SEELE 01: Use the Lance of Longinus. That will make them cower with fear.

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"This is going nowhere," said Asuka. "We need to shoot these bastards down."

"Then tell them to stop moving dammit!" yelled Zack. "Otherwise stop complaining!"

"Look out Zack!" shouted Elly.

Unit 05 looked up. One of the EVA Series was holding some sort of spear. And was about to throw it at Zack.

"Oh my fucking…"

BOOM! Zack felt something tackle him. Then he saw the red spear pierce the ground right next to him. He looked up to see who tackled him. A pink EVA. Elly Simpson. "Now you owe me!" she said.

"Heads up!" he yelled back. One of them had landed. Elly got back up and prepared to face it.

You wanna go at it you piece of trash!" she said.

Elsewhere, the other EVAs were also landing. They also drew Lances of Longinus. In response, the EVA pilots drew progressive swords they had in caches beside them. However, Shinji and Asuka each had to deal with two of the mass produced EVAs.

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SEELE 09: Perfect. We have our EVAs now engaging in one-on-one combat.

SEELE 06: And the Second and Third Children are being double teamed as well.

SEELE 01: Those two must die. They alone can stop our plan from coming to pass.

SEELE 02: Make sure to at least stop the other EVAs from fighting, and then have them attack Units 01 and 02.

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"Is it just me, or are these things getting vicious?" asked Toji as he continued to parry attacks with his target. He sidestepped a stab, and then tried to get behind it. But the EVA managed to keep up with him, blocking his attack with its spear.

"These things have always been vicious," replied Ivana as she used her double bladed progressive sword to shove the MP EVA's spear aside and kick it down. It got back up quickly and attacked her once more.

Shinji wasn't having it any better. More like worse in his case. He was armed with two progressive swords, and dueling with two of the MP EVAs as two apparently chose to target him.

Asuka was also in trouble. Armed with a double bladed progressive sword, she was fighting for her life fending off two more of the MP EVAs, who seemed totally bent on killing her.

Elly was not in a happy mood. This white… thing kept coming at her with this red weapon it was holding. She herself only knew some basic swordplay that she learned from a manual provided by NERV. Other than that, she was on the ropes.

"Stay still you mass produced bastard!" Zack yelled as he took swipe after swipe at his white opponent. "How come you guys can't be easy like last time?" he asked aloud as he dodged a stab from the MP EVA's lance.

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SEELE 12: This is fun. Watching them tire out like this, struggling to hold on to whatever they have left. It gives off, a euphoria.

SEELE 03: We can't have this go on forever.

SEELE 01: I concur. Deal with the ones that do not matter.

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Zack continued to attack and attack. The EVA he was fighting kept back pedaling. "Oh no you don't. No spear chucking on my watch." He accelerated and caught up to it. But as he did, it sidestepped around him. The EVA then used the lance and stabbed him in the back. "_OWWWW! FUUUUUCKKK!" _was what he said before falling unconscious from the pain.

"Zack's down!" yelled Elly as she continued to parry attacks from her attacker. "What the hell!" The EVA that had defeated Zack was now attacking her too. And since Elly had no chance against two EVAs, she was also defeated.

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"Unit 05's pilot is down! Unit 06's pilot is down!" reported Makoto.

"Are they alive?" asked Ritsuko

"Both pilots are alive," replied Shigeru. "But they're unconscious. It's almost as if they just wanted to incapacitate them."

"They're targeting Shinji and Asuka," declared Fuyutski. "They're quickly eliminating the others so they can swarm Units 01 and 02."

"Unit 03 is down," interjected Makoto. "Unit 00 is being double teamed and Unit 04 is being tripled teamed."

'Dammit!' thought Fuyutski to himself. 'Can we win this time?'

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Shinji decided to backpedal as the two MP EVAs he was fighting tried another attack. He didn't have a lot of experience fighting two opponents by himself at a time. And when he fought Oholah and Ohlibah, he had Asuka with him. He figured the best thing to do was to get one of them by itself for a few seconds and he could take some swings. Maybe…

Suddenly, one of them got behind him! He barely dodged the incoming slash. But as he looked at his screen, he saw the five-minute timer activate. **They had cut his cable**.

Asuka began to twirl her double blade progressive sword in an attempt to get her attackers to back off. But they continued to advance, as their lances kept hitting her sword. Suddenly, one of them did back off, and then threw its lance at her. She dodged to her right. As it whizzed by her, she saw her five-minute timer activate. "Oh shit!" Her cable was cut as well.

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"Unit 01 has four minutes and twenty eight seconds remaining! Unit 02 has four minutes and thirty nine seconds remaining of power," reported Maya.

This made Fuyutski flash back to 3rd Impact. This was exactly what happened to Asuka. They wore out her power supply and went in for the kill. And now they were going with the same strategy again. Then he remembered something. "The S2 organs. Can they be activated?"

"Yes they can," replied Shigeru. "But they haven't been tested yet. There's no telling what may happen!"

"We don't have a choice!" boomed the Vice-Commander! He put out a com to Shinji and Asuka. "Shinji! Asuka! Retreat! We're going to activate your EVAs' S2 organs!"

"They'll need time," interjected Maya. "Time they don't have!"

"Leave that to us," said Ivana who suddenly appeared in between Shinji, Asuka, and the MP EVAs. Unit 00 joined up beside Unit 04.

"Rei! Ivana! Don't do it! You'll be destroyed!" yelled Shinji. "There are nine of them! You won't stand a chance!"

"That may be," replied Rei. "But you have a power. A power they fear. If you and Asuka are killed, we will fall not long after. You two share something that will never overcome."

"We will hold them off long enough for your S2s to activate," replied Ivana. "So go!"

And so the seemingly futile fight began between Units 00 and 04 and the nine MP EVAs.

"So who wants it first?" asked Ivana to the MP EVAs. She had her double bladed progressive sword ready. Rei had her single blade sword ready.

"You shall not pass," declared Rei.

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"Shutting down auxiliary power," said Maya.

"Preparing to reactivate both EVAs with the S2 organ," reported Makoto.

"Good," said Fuyutski. "Hurry. Rei and Ivana will not last forever."

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It seemed to be almost impossible, but somehow, Rei and Ivana were pulling it off. They were holding their own so far. The EVA Series was merciless. Judging from the fact that they spared the lives of the others, for now clearly indicated that they are not the ones they wanted.

Ivana was constantly moving around to avoid getting hit, and at the same time, not allowing the MP EVAs to pass. It seemed like an impossible chore, but she was doing it, with help from Rei of course.

Shinji was worried. This activation for some reason felt like it was taking longer than it should. He figured it was just his nerves that made it look like things were going slow.

He could hear the technicians reading off how the activation was going. There were no problems so far; it just felt like it was taking so long. He was also worried for Rei; she wasn't trained in these sorts of situations like Ivana was likely to be. Hopefully the S2 organs would activate the EVAs and he and Asuka could help before it was too late.

His worst nightmare was realized. One of Rei's blocks was just a bit to slow, and one of the MP EVAs managed to stab Unit 00 in the chest. He could hear Rei grunt under the pain. "REI!" he shouted out."

"I'm sorry," was the last thing she said before being sent flying from a follow up attack. She was down. Now it was just Ivana.

"Shinji! Concentrate!" yelled Fuyutski.

Shinji obeyed and resumed concentration.

Ivana kept going though. It had been about a minute since Rei was defeated. Suddenly, she was stabbed and taken down. She was just overwhelmed.

'No,' thought Fuyutski. 'It's over now.'

One of the MP EVAs now prepared to attack the helpless Shinji and Asuka. Right as it was about to strike, a blue and white blur came out of nowhere and cut it in half.

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"What was that?" said Shigeru. "Somehow, Rei is recording a 100 sync!"

"I'm getting interference with Rei's brainwaves!" said Makoto.

"One more minute till activation of Units 01 and 02!" reported Maya.

'What's going on?' thought Fuyutski to himself. 'Could it be…?'

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"What's going on?" said Shinji aloud.

"Don't worry Shinji," replied a voice. "As long as it is within my power, I shall protect you, my son." Shinji saw Rei's face on the com, but it sounded like his mother.

"Mother?"

Yui was controlling Rei again. She faced the EVA Series. "Okay you crazy bastards. I'll show you why I was the one who could keep Gendo Ikari in line." Progressive sword in hand, she fearlessly prepared herself for the MP EVAs that were coming her way.

"Activation in thirty seconds!" reported Maya.

Yui parried the attacks as best as she could. She was really good. Or perhaps it was just to make sure no harm came to Rei. She continued to play defense as they attacked. She was very acrobatic as she continued to jump around and parry the attacks. So far, she had managed to kill one of the EVA Series, but the other eight were still attacking.

Suddenly, Yui got hit with the broad end of one of the EVA's lances. She was sent flying and hit the ground hard. As that EVA was about to throw the lance, it was shoulder barged by something. As Yui looked up to see what it was, she saw two EVAs. One purple. One red.

"Good work my son," said Yui. "Rei will be just fine. Go get them," she finished before losing her control over Rei.

The S2 organs were working just fine. Units 01 and 02 had the power of the Angels at their command now. Power was no longer a barrier for them.

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SEELE 03: So they have S2 organs as well.

SEELE 09: Chairman. Is it time?

SEELE 01: Yes. It is time. Time to use the Seal of Diablos!

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"All right you bastards!" yelled Asuka. "Time to pay for what you've done!"

"Yeah," concurred Shinji. "We're going to destroy you all!"

But what happened next would surprise both. The eight remaining EVAs then surrounded the kids. All eight raised their arms up into the sky. Suddenly, the sky darkened. And a red ring appeared in the sky, and descended down towards where they all were. The circle surrounded Units 01 and 02 and the EVA Series. Then the five point star was drawn.

Shinji and Asuka watched as the Seal could be seen on the foreheads of each of the EVA Series. "This… looks bad," said Shinji.

"Way to point out the obvious idiot!" retorted Asuka. "How are we supposed to get our way out of this?"

"Rei said we have some sort of power that the enemy fears," replied Shinji. "Just what is that power?"

"Well we better figure it out right now!" said Asuka as one of the MP EVAs moved to attack. She redrew her double bladed progressive sword, and Shinji redrew his two progressive swords.

And so the fight began again. Simply put, it was two four-on-one battles.

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"They won't be able to keep this up forever," said Ritsuko. "The human mind can only concentrate on so many things at once."

Misato who had been rather quiet during the battle spoke up. "Ritsuko. Never count Shinji or Asuka out. Those two have been capable of things we never would have been able to do. When it comes down to it, they have never let us down. And they never will."

"Look," interjected Maya. "Their sync scores are rising! They're both at 94 and rising!"

"What?" boomed Fuyutski. "How do they do it?"

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'I have to do this,' were Shinji's thoughts.

'I must do this,' were Asuka's thoughts.

The two fought like they never had before. They were actually keeping the EVA Series at bay. The EVA Series couldn't even land a blow on the two.

"See Asuka," said Shinji. "When we work together, we can do anything."

"Wow. I knew that a long time ago," replied Asuka. "Good thing you know now too."

They were completely unaware that their sync scores were rising. Rising off the charts.

"Let's take them together Shinji!"

"Together…"

For reasons unknown, the two pilots blacked out.

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Maya had another report. "This makes no sense. They were synced at 98, now I'm seeing 500!"

"Unit 01 and 02 are undergoing bio-fusion again!" said Makoto.

'Oh my god!' thought Misato. 'It's happening again! Please let them be okay.'

"We're getting Unit F-01's property readings!" said Shigeru. "It's going like last time!"

Maya spoke up again. "Their sync is now reading 1000!"

There was a bright white light where Units 01 and 02 once stood. The EVA Series tried to advance, but they were being repelled by a very powerful AT Field. A figure could be seen within the light. It had the head of Unit 01, the many eyes of Unit 02, red arms, red legs, and the body and head was purple. It also had ten silver spectral wings, symbolizing its immense power.

"Can you get a visual of the entry plug?" asked Ritsuko.

"Yes we can. Unit F-01 is accepting," replied Makoto.

They were all shocked at what they saw. What they saw, was a girl, who was wearing a purple and white plugsuit, she had a body similar to that of Rei, and she had long brown hair. She almost looked like Rei actually. She then opened her eyes to reveal that they were brown. "All right! Time to kick some serious ass!" declared the girl!

A/N: And what do you think? I was somewhat disappointed with this chapter. Hopefully, you won't be. And if you get the chance, you should read Naon Tiotami's fic: The Archangel Saga. It looks exciting and is worth the read. Well who is this girl? Is she on our side? And what became of Shinji and Asuka? Find out next time! Until 46, be cool!


	46. Ashika

A/N: Well, here I am. I'm back! I'm taking a breather from exams to write this next chapter. Now for the stumper: When Unit 01 and Unit 02 merged together; Unit F-01 appeared like last time. But this time, a girl has appeared in where the entry plug would be. She looks like Rei, except she has brown eyes, and long brown hair. So… WHO IS SHE? Find out right now!

The girl who controlled Unit F-01 noticed the EVA Series had surrounded her. But she was not even the slightest bit frightened. "So who wants to be ripped to pieces first?" she asked boldly.

The EVA Series each drew their Lance of Longinus. Each of them wound up and threw their spear at the purple and red EVA.

The girl saw the attacks coming, and raised her AT Field. "Fools…"

All eight spears made contact with the AT Field. The weapon's main design was supposed to enable it to penetrate the AT Field with little or no difficulty. But they could not break Unit F-01's AT Field, and the barrier was actually quite visible. Unit F-01 raised its hand, and the AT Field became even stronger. So strong, that it deflected all eight spears right back at each MP EVA. As a result, all eight were skewered, but still standing.

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NERV HQ – Battlestation

"Unit F-01 deflected the lances," reported Makoto. "It's completely unharmed!"

"Impossible!" said Fuyutski. "No AT Field can deflect the Lance of Longinus!"

"Guess what?" interjected the unknown girl. "I made the impossible possible! Now if you thought the incident with the 14th Angel was disgusting, then I suggest you avert your eyes!"

"Who are you?" asked Misato.

"Hardly a foe Misato. And more likely a friend."

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Unit F-01 then willed itself at the first MP EVA. It tried to defend itself, but it was no match for an EVA with a 1000 sync ratio. Unit F-01 threw a punch that ripped right through the defending arms and right into the chest. And with that same arm, it ripped up through the chest and through its head. When its hand could be seen again, it could be seen with the core in its hand.

The next MP EVA came at Unit F-01. The female pilot willed the EVA to turn around and throw the first MP EVA's core right at the next one. The EVA obeyed as if it knew what its pilot wanted to do immediately. The result was a large hole in the side of the MP EVAs head. But it kept charging at Unit F-01. It threw a punch that the girl easily saw coming. She blocked, and with a single karate chop, she cut the attacker clean in half, with the core being cut in half as well. "Still think you can beat me?" she asked. "I'll destroy you all and I won't even break a sweat."

The remaining EVA Series unfortunately couldn't hear the warning that was clearly meant for them. Still drawing from the Seal of Diablos, they were apparently no match for the mystery girl.

The third EVA tried its hand against Unit F-01. But she was too fast for it. She clawed at its throat with Unit F-01. The EVA's hand went into the throat of the MP EVA easily. With one yank, she ripped everything out of its throat. This grossly included every blood valve attached to the brain, which made blood spew everywhere. It fell on its back.

"Take this!" she yelled as she willed her red and purple EVA to stomp down on the doomed MP EVA's chest. Unit F-01's foot went right through the chest and stomped the core flat.

"Three down and five to go! Any more volunteers who want to die?"

The fourth made its presence known. The girl attacked it. She grabbed its right arm, with barely an effort, ripped its right arm off. And with a swing of the arm, she used the MP EVA's arm to decapitate the MP EVA. And with a few rapidly fast punches, the MP EVA no longer had an entire midsection.

Next came the fifth. Unit F-01 picked up Asuka's double bladed progressive sword. "Can anyone say EVA-kabob?" she said aloud as she stabbed the sword right through the EVA. Then she punched its head right off. Then she stuck Unit F-01's arm right down where the head, grabbed the core, and ripped right through the chest, core in hand.

The sixth attacked next. She pulled the sword out of the fifth MP EVA and cut the sixth MP EVA at the right shoulder on a forty-five degree angle, with the sword coming out at the waist on the left side. And she made sure the core was cut when the cut was made. Six down, and two were left.

"Go ahead and attack me you two," she said pointing at the last two MP EVAs. "If you think I'm scared of the Seal of Diablos, you're obviously wrong." She picked up Shinji's two progressive swords.

Several cuts later, the last two EVAs were in several pieces. And the Seal of Diablos vanished.

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"Unit F-01 has completely destroyed the EVA Series," reported Shigeru.

"Sync still holding at 1000," put in Maya.

Fuyutski put a com to Unit F-01. "Hey girl, what happened to Shinji and Asuka?"

The brown haired girl seemed confused. "Shinji? Asuka? Who are you talking about?"

Now Misato spoke up. "Aren't you Shinji or Asuka?"

The brunette was still confused. "No. I ain't neither of those two names. You can call me Ashika."

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"We have a slight problem," said Ritsuko as she was talking to Misato.

"Obviously," replied Misato. "Shinji and Asuka have disappeared and we have this girl… Ashika in her place. EVA, plugsuit and all."

"Disappeared? Not entirely," said Ritsuko. "If you see here, these are Shinji and Asuka's respective genetic codes." She showed Misato two sheets. One had Shinji's genetic code. The other had Asuka's genetic code.

"What are you getting at?" asked Misato.

"Here's Ashika's genetic code." Ritsuko handed to Misato Shinsuka's genetic code.

Misato took a look at the code. Then she compared it to Shinji and Asuka's code. She then had a look of shock when she realized what she was seen. "And Ashika's brainwaves?"

"Just like the DNA, their brainwaves are also a combination of both kids," verified Ritsuko. "And the MAGI have determined that as a result of a biofusion of Unit 01 and Unit 02, it also affected Shinji and Asuka and merged them together into Ashika. On top of that, when I asked her questions about her past, she couldn't remember anything."

"Well obviously, she has no past."

"Exactly," continued Ritsuko. "So on a hunch, I asked her questions about Asuka and Shinji's pasts. And strangely enough, she was able to answer all my questions easily. Like Shinji's incident with the 13th Angel and Asuka's incident with the 15th Angel."

"So she draws her thoughts and memories based on Asuka and Shinji's thoughts?" asked Misato.

"You got it," said Ritsuko.

"Well I don't think it would be good if they stayed merged forever. Will they ever separate?"

"Don't worry," assured Ritsuko. "The MAGI give 99.9998 out of 100 that Ashika will separate back into Shinji and Asuka will happen in a few days."

"That's good," said Misato. "By the way, how are Zack, Ivana, and Rei coming along?"

"They're fine. They should be waking up anytime. I'll send them home later. Same goes for Toji and Elly. They'll be okay too. Elly should be up just in time to make dinner."

"So it's true," interjected Misato. "Elly does cook dinner for the NERV employees. What happened to the cafeteria?"

Ritsuko laughed. "Hey chill out. She's actually very good at cooking unlike you. In exchange for cooking dinner at least three times a week, the Commander has relaxed some of her restrictions."

"I see."

Just then, Ashika came in, dressed in Asuka's clothes. "So Misato, when can I go home? I heard you've been made my legal guardian. I even take your last name. Ashika Katsuragi."

"Just go out to my car and wait there," she replied. Once Ashika left, Misato shot Ritsuko a death glare. "What else did you do?"

"It was Fuyutski's idea," said the doctor. "Since she's her own separate person, and assuming that after she separates, there's a chance she could fuse again, we gave her a separate identity and an ID card as well. Just in case anyone gets suspicious."

"Okay. I'm going home." Misato got out of her chair. "All of this makes me want a beer."

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Katsuragi Residence

"So this is your apartment," said Ashika when she and Misato arrived. "I'm thirsty. It's been quite a day."

"If you want some pop, or milk, there's some in the fridge," replied Misato.

"Okay," replied the brunette. And so she walked into the kitchen like any normal girl would. But right before she opened the door, a thought struck her mind.

_Shinji went to check out what was in Misato's fridge. To his shock, the fridge is almost filled with beer!_

"Huh?" she said aloud. "Is this fridge full of beer? And who is this Shinji anyway?" She opened the fridge anyway. There was pop, milk, juice, a few other things, but there was one type of product in the fridge that shocked her. Beer! And tons of it!

_As Shinji ate his toast in the morning before school, he sees Misato come out of her room, in a hangover state. She goes over to the fridge, takes out a beer, chugs it down, and is instantly relieved of her… state._

'What kind of woman is she?' thought Ashika as she poured a glass of milk. 'And that Shinji showed up again.'

"Oh Asu- I mean Ashika," started Misato. "The others will be home soon."

"Others?"

"Oh yeah, you don't know them yet. There's a boy named Zack, a girl named Ivana, and a girl named Rei."

_As Zack made that inappropriate comment about Asuka bearing Shinji's child, she threw a beer can at his head. Since he blocked it, she quickly advanced on him, and kicked him clean in the pills._

"Zack?" said Ashika. "Why do I get the feeling he's bad news?"

_Asuka was angry at the fact that Ivana was initially from Russia, as the feelings of country pride was in her. And her country's pride was decimated during World War II back in the 1930-40s._

"So she's Russian. And why am I angry about World War II?"

_Asuka for the longest time had always wondered if Shinji had his eyes set on her or Wondergirl. She really hoped the former was true and he would be able to see through her façade as a lonely girl looking for someone to love._

"When I think of Rei, why does she strike me as Wondergirl? And who the hell is Asuka?"

"Oh don't worry about it," assured Misato. "I'm sure you'll get along just fine." She took a long needed beer out of the fridge. "Everyone except Zack that is."

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Misato's other children she watched were on their way home. The topic of discussion was the new kid at the apartment. This new girl had apparently saved their sorry behinds while they were unconscious. So they never saw what she looked like.

"So what do you think she'll look like or act like?" suggested Zack.

"I do not know," replied Rei. "I understand she is on our side. So she is likely our ally in our fight against the Black Angels."

"I just hope she doesn't have a personality like Asuka," said Ivana. "And we all have enough trouble appeasing her anger."

"Whatever," retorted Zack. "I just hope she has nice breasts and a great butt to go with it!"

"Hmm, I wonder what Elly would think if she heard that," said Ivana.

"But at the same time, I doubt anybody could look better than Elly," countered Zack. "Now she's a pink haired goddess. Nice body and personality. I bet she's a league and a half above this girl."

"I wonder what happened to Shinji and Asuka though," figured Rei. "If they were absorbed again, the NERV staff is doing a good job of not showing it on their faces."

"Perhaps," said Ivana. "The only way to find out is to go home and find the answers out ourselves."

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Katsuragi Residence

Ashika was finally feeling her stomach rumble. So by instinct, she went to the kitchen to make something for dinner. "Say Misato, you feeling hungry?" she called into the TV room.

"Yeah. The hunger bugs are kicking in," was the response. "Make some for the others too when they get in."

"Gotcha!" the merged girl said. So she took a moment to think about what she wanted to make. As she likely expected, a memory from one of those two kids flowed into her mind. This time, it was Shinji. Apparently, he was quite the cook. So she probed his memories to find a good recipe. She finally decided to make a pasta dish with Swedish meatballs and vegetables.

Right as Ashika was about to start making dinner, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," said Misato.

She opened the door to find Ivana, Rei, and Za-Casanova waiting at the door. "Ah you kids are home. Just in time, she's making dinner now."

"She?" inquired Zack. "So the newbie is a girl."

"Yup. Hey come out and meet the others, they're home!" she called into the kitchen. "Casanova. Ivana. Rei. I'd like you to meet Ashika Katsuragi."

Immediately after Misato finished speaking, Ashika walked into the room where the others were. "Hey, it's those pilots Shinji and Asuka know of!" She then pointed at Zack. "And he's that asshole named Zack, King of the Perverts!"

"Whoa! That's harsh!" retorted Zack. "So she's a bitch like Asuka was!"

"Watch it shithead!" yelled back Ashika. "Why can't you be more civil like that boy Shinji?"

"She looks familiar," said Ivana. "But I can't put my finger on what it is."

"I concur," replied Rei. "Something about her makes her look like I have seen her before."

Misato knew she needed to talk with the three other EVA pilots about Ashika. "Ashika, go back to cooking for now. I just need to talk with the others for a moment."

"Good idea," replied Ashika. "I can't stand another minute here with Casanova and I've only seen him for one minute." And with that, the brunette returned to the kitchen.

Misato led the others into the TV room. Zack was the first to say something. "So Misato, what's the deal?"

"Like he said," said Ivana. "What happened to Shinji and Asuka? And how come she is here, and has knowledge of those two?"

"This may or may not be easy to grasp," replied their guardian. "As you may or may not know, Unit 01 and Unit 02 merged again."

"So they're stuck inside and this girl is their replacement?" inquired Rei.

Misato continued to speak. "No not at all. But something DID happen to those two. Shinji and Asuka were indeed affected by the biofusion. As a result, the two of them merged into one person."

Zack was shocked. "Then that means…"

"Exactly. The girl you saw is a fusion of Shinji and Asuka. She has their memories as well, so that's how she knew you. She has no past of her own, so she draws on the thoughts of Shinji and/or Asuka depending on her situation."

"Will they exist that way forever?" asked Rei.

Misato answered again. "According to Ritsuko, no. Ashika will only exist for a few days or so before separating back into our favourite couple once again."

Misato continued to talk with them about how Ashika was able to completely decimate and rip the EVA Series to pieces. The talk carried on for another 45 minutes before Ashika called them into the kitchen for dinner.

And so, the dysfunctional household sat down for dinner. To everyone's expectations, the food tasted really good.

"Well Ashika, you're quite the talented cook," said Misato. "Just like Shinji is. You two got something in common."

"Thanks," replied Ashika. "I kept thinking of him while making dinner. Seemed like he personally had a hand in it even though he wasn't there."

"So when do you think of Asuka?" asked Ivana.

"When I think about what an ass Zack is!" she bluntly said pointing at Zack. "And why do I think you have this pink haired trouble maker for a girlfriend?"

"Because I do," replied the Canadian. "Don't you ever think you act a little too much like Asuka?"

"Don't you ever think you're an asshole once in a while?" countered Ivana. "You're giving everybody a headache."

"Everyone's picking on me," muttered Zack.

And so after dinner, Zack and Rei washed the dishes. Ivana watched a war movie on television. Misato decided to take a bath, and Ashika decided to call it a night early. Misato told her she could have Shinji and Asuka's room, and that she could borrow some of Asuka's pajamas for the time being.

As she lay down on the bed, Ashika wondered what Shinji and Asuka were like when they slept. The memories came to her quickly. The two of them seemed like they really loved each other and enjoyed each others company. And strangely enough, at their age they were sharing a bed. Probably something to do with a lack of room. While she was thinking of this, Ashika herself began to feel lonely, but for some reason, at the same time, she felt like she wasn't alone at all and someone was there with her.

Eased by the comfort of that thought, she drifted off to sleep.

A/N: WOOT! WOOT! I finally got that chapter done! I have been a very busy person over the last little while, but I managed to get some time in to do this. So, Shinji and Asuka have merged together to form Ashika. What kinds of adventures will she go on? How long will the two stay merged for? Until 47, be cool!

A/O/N: If you get the chance, read Marine Brother Shran's fic: Inescapable grasp of EVA.

A/O/O/N: I'm also planning on writing an Evangelion Christmas special. Yeah, it'll be funny, and best of all, it's based on Season 2 as well. So the Zany Antic will be put off until after Christmas.


	47. Merged and at School

A/N: Well, here we are! Chapter 47! So, let's make a quick recap. During the battle with the EVA Series, Unit 01 and Unit 02 merged together again. This time, a girl by the name of Ashika emerged as Unit F-01's pilot. And now, until Shinji and Asuka return to normal, she is pretty much in their place. How long will this last? Can the others deal with this? Find out!

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Ashika woke to the sun coming in through the window. She was wearing Asuka's pajamas that Misato recommended she wear. As she sat up, she quickly felt hungry. So, on the impulse, she made her way into the kitchen, and began to make something.

Zack finally felt the urge to get off the couch. It had been quite a day yesterday. The EVA Series had shown up AGAIN. Then he remembered that he got beaten by one of those stupid mass produced EVAs. And to make things even stranger, his best bud Shinji had merged with the girl Zack disliked the most, creating the brown haired babe that was in the kitchen making breakfast. Unfortunately, although Ashika carried Shinji's traits, she also carried Asuka's traits which made her a pain in the ass still. Hopefully the Shinji in her would tune her temper down a bit. To pass the time until breakfast was ready, he decided to tune in to the news.

Rei now awoke as she always did at this time. She noticed that Ivana was still sleeping. Rei figured she would awaken soon enough. Yesterday was not an easy day for anyone. With the disappearance of Shinji and Asuka, and the emergence of Ashika, a girl who resembles them both, and bases all her actions on their thoughts, Rei was not sure how this would affect things. She knew the only way to find out was to let the events play themselves out, and all would be revealed.

As she rose out of bed, she felt a sharp jab of pain course through her entire body. And as quickly as it had come, it disappeared. Once she finally got up, she proceeded to the kitchen, where Ashika was preparing a meal for everyone in the house.

Ashika quickly broke the silence. "Good morning Rei. Did ya sleep well?"

"I slept with no problems last night," was Rei's monotone answer, completely contrary to Ashika's statement, which was full of character. "Did you have any problems?"

"No I didn't," said Ashika. "Just a few thoughts about those two kids, Asuka and Shinji. I wish I could meet them. They seem like interesting people, unlike Zack!"

"Why do you hold such a hatred for Zack? You have only known him for less than a day."

"I don't know why," answered Ashika. "Something just tells me that he is bad news!"

"I see then."

Just then, Ivana came into the kitchen. "Good morning comrades," she said as she sat down.

"Good morning Ivana," replied Ashika. "Do you always call everyone comrade? Or is that a poor Russian stereotype?"

"Ah, you are indeed intelligent. But not exactly a stereotype," answered Ivana. "It's something that comes from being in a military family. It's what some Russians call their fellow soldiers. And unfortunately, it becomes a habit."

"Ah, that makes sense," said Ashika as she continued to make breakfast. Misato then came into the kitchen, and had her morning beer. Ashika was just disgusted at the sight she saw. Obviously, she had never seen Misato wake up with a hangover, and then a morning beer. "Do you have any idea how irresponsible you look drinking beer first thing in the morning?"

"Hey relax," said Misato defending herself. "So what if I love beer? I've never had one incident where I had a drunken driving incident or domestic problems."

'Thank God,' thought Ivana to herself.

"But still… do the others drink too?"

"Hell no," answered Zack as he walked into the kitchen. Everyone stopped to look at him as if what the hell was he doing there. "Uh, morning everyone."

Twenty minutes later, Ashika was wearing one of Asuka's school uniforms that she unfortunately was told she'd have to borrow until she got her own. And so the three girls and one well disliked boy went off for school.

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NERV HQ – Dr. Akagi's Office

Dr. Akagi was going over some information that she had on Ashika. The idea that Unit 01 and Unit 02 merged together to form Unit F-01 was mind boggling to say the least. The fact that Shinji and Asuka merged together into Ashika was totally inconceivable. But the information in front of her on her computer was telling her otherwise.

So Ritsuko continued her look over Ashika's information. Ritsuko learned that in a way, Ashika was like one of those unnamed elements on the periodic table. Stayed together long enough to get some information before splitting apart. They would split apart eventually, but it wouldn't hurt to know as much about her as they could, because if it could happen once, it would happen again.

But as she checked over the genetic patterns, she saw something that caught her eye. And when she saw it, she also brought up Rei patterns on screen. She looked up Rei's capabilities to project the AT Field on her own. And to her shock, Ashika could also project the AT Field without the Angel DNA! Ritsuko then rushed over to the phone to call Misato and warn her about Ashika's capabilities.

After a few rings, the doctor heard a cherry "Hello!" which could only come from one woman.

"Misato we have a problem!" said a frantic Ritsuko.

"I know that much. I have this brown haired girl instead of Shinji and Asuka," was Misato's somewhat sarcastic response.

"There's more than that!" Ritsuko was not impressed with Misato's somewhat not-caring attitude. "Do you know that she has the power to project an AT Field?"

"No I did not." It was easily apparent who was staying calm in this situation.

"Misato! If people see her using the AT Field, they'll think she's some sort of alien or something! Where is she now?"

"At school."

"MISATO!"

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Tokyo-3 High School

Ashika wasn't sure what to expect from this school. Misato had her enrolled in this school, along with the other EVA pilots who attended this school. She just couldn't grasp the reason why she was put in as an exchange student who was checking out different schools in the area to see which one she liked. Even stranger, she was put down as Ashika Katsuragi, and was given the same timetable as Shinji, according to what she strangely knew of him.

For some reason, she liked the cooking class a lot. Some of the girls were wondering where Shinji was. She quickly learned that Shinji was the only guy in the class, and was the target of all the girls' affections apparently. But that Asuka was the girl he was going out with and that she'd kill anyone who dared to get near him. The others were surprised that she already knew that without them telling her.

After that, she was to go to music class. The teacher there was okay as well. She knew how to use the instrument she was required to use, the cello, but another part of her found it incredibly boring. That class passed also without incident.

Next was math class. Ashika herself liked math, because it was one of the classes where she could prove she was beyond superior to all other students. As the new student, she was already the spectacle and so far had only been here for not even a day. Unfortunately, the one thing that offset her love of mathematics was the mega-boring teacher who ran the class.

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Gym Class – Beware big brute known as Coach Thunder (Yes he's back despite unpopular demand)

"LISTEN LADY! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE THE NEW KID DOES NOT MEAN YOU GET TO WATCH! NOW RUN YOUR FUCKING LAPS!"

Coach Thunder was out in full force today. Rumour had it that someone had pulled some prank on him in the morning and if that was the case, he was successfully taking it out on every class he had that day. And now Ashika was the latest victim of his unrelenting fury.

While they were running their ten laps, Ashika took a moment to talk with Rei. "Say Rei, is Coach Whatshisname always like this?"

"Yes," replied Rei. "He has always been a very angry man, and no one knows why."

"Strange."

"HEY STOP TALKING AND GET THE FUCK RUNNING!" was the shout from across the gym.

After they did their twelve laps (Coach Thunder assumed they were all slacking, so they got an extra two laps), it was time for another round of dodgeball. Thunder quickly divided the class into two teams. And as usual, he wanted both teams to destroy each other.

It was bedlam as usual in a game of dodgeball. Ashika however, was on the front line, throwing the balls mercilessly. And oh boy did she have a cannon! Even Coach Thunder was impressed with how hard she could throw.

Zack and Elly were now the only ones left on their side of the gym. And he was up against Ashika, Ivana, and Toji. Just his luck. There were four balls in the game. He had two, Elly was back against the wall with no ball at all Ivana had one, and Ashika had one. He knew he had to throw a ball eventually, but then risk having one thrown at him. So, he knew he had to take a risk. To throw one at Toji and risk shots from both Ashika and Ivana, or throw one at Ashika, and risk a shot from Ivana, or vice versa. He quickly decided that Ashika was more dangerous, and she was a bitch, so she was going down as far as he was concerned.

Looking at Ivana, he shouted "Burn in hell you macho girl!" He watched as Ivana braced for his throw. Ivana noticed as his hand twisted in mid-throw. Suddenly, the ball fired at Ashika!

Ashika was totally off guard, and stumbled back, and flinched for the impact. But for some reason it never came. When she opened her eyes, she was sitting on her rear, and everyone had a look on their face that said 'what the hell'.

"What was that?"

"What the hell!"

"What the crap!"

"Did that even hit her?"

"It looked like it bounced off her but at the same time it didn't."

Coach Thunder quickly interjected. "HEY GIRL! YOU'RE OUT! GET YER ASS OFF THE FLOOR!"

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Strangely enough, the kids and Ashika had learned that the merged girl could project an AT Field. Luckily, Ritsuko who was acting quickly was able to convince the school administration that the kids were seeing things and that they required medical examinations.

Now Ashika and Rei were walking home from school, while all the others in that class minus the EVA pilots were having medical examinations to see if there was anything wrong. Ashika noticed that Rei was quiet from the start of class to the end, and decided to inquire as to why.

"Say Rei, how come you don't talk a lot?"

"I do not know. I guess I have not found the adequate moment to talk." As usual, a monotone response to a question she did not completely understand.

"Well if you feel the need to talk, you should," said Ashika. "You look like a nice girl, and you have smarts too. I bet if you opened yourself up more, some boys may find you appealing."

"Appealing?" asked Rei. Looks like she didn't understand that either.

"You know, when guys look at you, and they like what they see. Not in a perverted sense, but they can tell you are a nice girl," said Ashika.

"I see." Perhaps Rei understood somewhat of what she was talking about. Rei figured this was Shinji's part in Ashika's personality that made her tamer than Asuka would be towards her.

"There you go! Show those guys what you're made of!" yelled Ashika out loud!

"I will take that into consideration."

And so they continued on walking in silence after their brief conversation. Suddenly, Rei felt a sharp pain course through her body. Ashika could hear her grunt from the pain. "Hey are you okay?"

"I am… fine."

"Okay. You scared me there for a second." And so Ashika convinced Rei to hurry along home with her.

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Katsuragi Residence

"So that must have been quite a day," said Misato after they all were discussing it at the table. "So Ashika really could project an AT Field after all. I'm impressed."

"I never even knew I had that capability to even use the AT Field," replied Ashika. "I don't even know how I did it."

"Best of all, we got the rest of the class, including Coach Thunder, questioned to possibly be insane!" boomed Zack.

"That includes us as well you idiot," interjected Ivana.

"Yeah, it's all Ashika's fault!" returned Zack.

"Shut up you fucking Canuck!" Ashika went to punch him, but suddenly, a flash of light enshrouded the entire room. Two simultaneous thuds later, and once the light cleared, the others could see two figures on the floor where Ashika once stood.

To their shock, they realized it was Shinji and Asuka! They had separated! When Asuka opened her eyes, she looked around frantically.

"Hey! Where's my EVA? Where are those mass produced bastards?" She then pointed at Zack. "And what the fuck is he doing here?"

A/N: Sigh! That was short! But I'm glad I'm done. As for what happens in the next chapter, I hinted at it during this chapter. If you know, tell me in a PM. And Asuka and Shinji are back to normal from the looks of things. If you don't like this chapter, I completely understand. I just wanted to get something out because I haven't posted a chapter in so long. Until 48, be cool!


	48. Bacon and a Movie

A/N: Well I'm glad you people are sticking by me through thick and thin. It's Christmas and you still find time to review. That greatly warms my heart. What is to behold in this chapter. As I actually write this, I do not know. All I know is that I'll get from this side of the chapter to the next. So here I go!

WARNING: Fairly mature content near the end of the chapter. Discretion is advised.

It had been quite a night for everyone at the Katsuragi residence, as it turned out, Shinji and Asuka had no recollection of the time where they were fighting the EVA Series up until they were on the floor a day and a half later. Asuka had a fit that some other girl was wearing her clothes and sleeping in her room, but was happy that this "Ashika" was gone.

After the rather abrupt 'loss' of Ashika, the rest of the week had passed by fairly quickly for the crew. It was Friday night, and Zack was getting ready to settle in for the night as it was almost midnight, and he had been talking to Elly on the phone for the last hour. However his favourite show Jerry Springer was coming on soon and he didn't want to miss it.

"So you're definitely up for it tomorrow?" pausing as he waits for her response, "That's great! I'll swing by at about 12:00pm tomorrow then." Zack listens to Elly speak for a few more moments, "Well, good night my princess." He then hung up.

Pen-Pen then enters the room with a bag of Dillicious flavoured Doritos in one flipper, and one can of beer and a can of root beer in the other. He too was fired up about Jerry Springer. He jumps on the pullout couch, opened the bag of chips and prepared to watch what some TV critics claimed as the worst show on television.

"All right," said Zack as the show came on. "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"

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Ivana and Rei's room

Ivana frowned in disgust as she lay on her futon. Zack was watching that stupid show again. 'How could a sane person actually like that show?' she wonders to herself. To her, the Jerry Springer show was the worst thing possible on TV next to the adult movies. To make the time pass by, she thought back to when she was in Russia, fighting for her country as one of the few trained child soldiers against Chechnya terrorists. She remembered the thrill of the battle, the thought of facing your enemy head on in battle, knowing that to win, you didn't just need a gun or a few grenades, but good instincts, confidence, no fear of death, and best of all, to strike with surprise, and impose fear and intimidation into the heart of your enemy, to break them before you engaged them. Actually, the resistance was finally crushed about two months before 3rd Impact and her transfer to Japan's NERV HQ.

The day had gone as planned for Rei. To go to school, and receive the day's education that it had to offer, however, there were a few minor obstacles. The first was how to apply Ashika's advice, and make herself appealing. Rei did understand what the formerly merged incarnation of Shinji and Asuka were saying, but was just unsure of how to apply what was needed. The second problem was the three jabs of pain she had felt throughout the school day. The first was felt during breakfast that morning, the second time was in math class, and the pain dissipated much like its appearance. The third time was during gym class. Coach Thunder had a fit at her, thinking she was looking for an excuse to slack off. Rei wondered for a moment if it was growing pains, as she learned that it was not uncommon for one to get such pains in parts of their bodies as they grow up. However, whenever she was experiencing this pain, it coursed completely through her. She closed her eyes as she tried to get some sleep, despite Zack and whatever show he was watching.

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Misato's Room

Misato was passed out and lying face down on her pillow after another binge of beer.

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Shinji and Asuka's Room

Shinji was also pondering the events of that day while lying on his futon. It was another day as usual, but this day went by with slightly unique twists. One was whatever had happened to Rei during the morning before she left for school. What could cause her such pain? It seemed to be a mystery, and it looked like he was the only one who noticed, because no one said anything about it. Cooking class was fun though, though Asuka seemed to be trying really hard to keep everyone else away. As bad as it seemed, she actually did some good without knowing it, as it gave him the space he needed to make the week's cooking project. The rest of the day went as planned; right down to Coach Thunder's constant bitching during gym class. However, he couldn't help but notice that Rei seemed to be in pain again.

Shinji then looked at the bundle that lay in his arms. Asuka, who despite whatever Zack was watching on TV, was out like a light and sleeping peacefully. Since they began sharing a bed, Asuka now seemed to use Shinji as her personal pillow. Not that Shinji minded at all. Not long after, sleep too claimed him.

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Morning

Shinji woke up to the smell of what he thought was bacon.

He moves to get up, however he remains pinned Asuka hadn't shifted her position since last night, "Asuka," he whispered, gently nudging her, "Time to wake up."

Asuka stirred a little bit, but didn't really wake up. Gently nudging her awake wasn't going anywhere; he opted to try to slowly move her off of him. This didn't work either, as once he started moving her; she tightened her grip on him.

"Shinji… a few more minutes please…" she mutter lazily muttered, as Shinji concluded that it would be a while before she's waking up.

Zack wanted to sleep in, as he was up late again watching his all time favourite show next to the Tonight Show, but the smell of bacon that was horribly cooked was keeping him from doing so. Deciding this was a battle he couldn't win; he slid off the couch and slipped on some clothes. Noticing that Misato was insulting all Canadians by badly cooking the bacon, he decided to split and grab some real food. Quickly scribbling a note onto a piece of paper, he left it on his pullout couch, and sneaked out the door.

"Okay, time to head off to NERV!"

Misato was pretty sure she was cooking this bacon right. She remembered how Zack was talking about how good bacon could be if it was cooked the right way. So of course, she decided to try and surprise everybody. So the only thing left to do was wake the others up. She went to Ivana and Rei's room, and knocked on the door. "Girls, wake up!" she called into the room. "Breakfast is almost ready!"

After that, she proceeded to Shinji and Asuka's room and knocked on their door. "Okay lovebirds, time to wake up and smell the bacon!" Next was to go and wake up Casanova. But instead, she saw a note where the so-called ladies man should have been sleeping.

To Whom It May Concern:

I noticed you were trying to make bacon; I'll give you a warning. Before you end up poisoning the other residents, as much as one of them should get sick, I would ill advise serving that mess in the frying pan.

Zack

Misato wasn't fazed by Zack's note. "He wouldn't know good cooking at all. He doesn't know what he's missing. I guess I'll have his share then."

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Tokyo-3

It was a wonderful October day in Zack's point of view. The sun was out, the wind wasn't blowing, and he had escaped Misato's death meal, and was off to meet Elly. 'How could things get any better?' he thought to himself. His answer was found out when he went to the bank. His latest transfer of money from his father in Canada had come in. This day would be excellent indeed. As he arrived at NERV HQ, staff members passing by as they enter notices a spring in his step as he happily hums Kryptonite.

Elly could be outside at the entrance waiting for him, wearing a pair of pink jeans and a pink sweater, "Hey!" she calls out running up to meet her date.

They quickly embraced and kissed, "Hey I thought you weren't allowed outside of NERV," said Zack.

"I'm not mate," replied Elly. "But Commander Ikari let me out for the day. Said my good cooking and behaviour was rewarding enough to do so. I knew those blokes loved my cooking."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's have a blast today!" Zack suggests, with a big grin on his face.

"YEAH!" Elly shouts out in joy, jumping up as she does, "There's this awesome movie I wanna see."

"And what would that be?" Zack inquires, as he wraps and arm around Elly's waist as they leave.

"Could we go to see that new war movie, Hell in Hiroshima? It's supposed to be a kick ass movie!"

"Anything for my princess," said Zack acting like a medieval knight; he scopes up Elly in his arms, as he bridal carries her towards the movie theater.

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Misato's Apartment

After breakfast, which DID taste horrible, the occupants of the apartment minus Zack were planning what they wanted to do for the day.

"So what should we do today?" asked Misato, "How about a movie anyone?"

"How about Hell in Hiroshima?" Ivana suggests, as she gingerly rubs her stomach, "That is expected to be a fantastic movie."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Misato replied, then turning her attention towards Shinji, Asuka and Rei, "Any objections from you three?"

"Sure. Better than some soppy romance movie," Asuka replies.

Misato looked at Shinji and notices he was lost in thought, "What's wrong Shinji?"

"Oh nothing really," he answered.

Misato growls as she was not in the mood for being shut out, "Shinji. Remember what I said about evasive action? Just say what's on your mind and I promise I won't get mad at you."

Shinji lets out a sigh as reluctantly speaks his mind, "It's kind of strange. We're watching a movie about one of the darkest moments in our country's history. Wouldn't that be something we should leave behind?"

"That's what was on your mind?" Asuka asks as she raises her eyebrows, completely surprised at her boyfriend's attitude, "Haven't you ever learned that you should learn from your past so you don't make the same mistakes in the future?"

"I guess so," the Third Child quietly replied.

Asuka decided to answer for him, "Then it's decided. Shinji is in. Even if he can't answer for himself."

So now it was down to Rei, "So you in as well Rei?" asked Misato.

"Yes," was the final answer they needed.

"Great. A unanimous decision," said Misato.

She looked at Rei again and frowned, "Are you okay Rei? You look pale. And I mean paler than usual."

"I am… fine," Rei firmly replies.

"Okay, if you say so. Let's go!"

Less than ten minutes later, the crew had arrived at the Cineplex Odeon Theater thanks to their guardian's maniacal driving, "Okay, we're here," Misato cries out to her exasperated passengers as they breath for dear life, "Here's the plan. Shinji!"

"Yes ma'am?" he quickly replies.

"Your job is to buy all the food for everyone," commanded Misato. "Large popcorn all around, and you know everyone's tastes in popcorn. Asuka!"

"What do you need me for?" the redhead asked with a touch of disinterest in her voice.

"Your job is to get everyone's drinks. And you know what we all like."

"Fine."

Misato then spoke again, this time to Rei. "Rei, your task will be to buy the movie tickets. One adult ticket and four student tickets."

"Understood," replied Rei, despite the fact she stilled looked very pale, much like a ghost. But she knew what she had to do.

Misato's final order was for Ivana. "And Ivana, you have the most important job. Secure the best seats for us by any means necessary."

"Yes ma'am," Ivana replies with a wide smirk on her face.

With that, the four children set off to do their assigned tasks, while Misato went to the arcade to sharpen her shooting skills.

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"Okay! We're here!" Zack states excitedly, "You can get down now!"

Zack finally lets her down, after the long walk to the Cineplex, "Yay!" she cries out as she stretches her arms and legs, "We're here! Let's get in quickly so we can get the best seats!"

Zack paid for the tickets, and gave Elly money to buy the necessary snacks for the show. Once that was done, they went into Cinema 9 through the left doors.

"Let's get the back row," said Elly. "You don't have to look up when you sit back there."

"Sure thing," replied Zack. As they went towards the back row, someone stood in their way, "What are you doing here?"

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"Is everything ready?" Misato asks excitedly. Shinji had five bags of popcorn stacked in his hands. Asuka was doing a balancing act with five large drinks. Rei had all their tickets, but Ivana wasn't back yet.

"Yeah," answered Shinji. "Can everyone grab their popcorn please?"

"I second that with the drinks," said Asuka.

"Tickets are ready to be presented," reported Rei. "But Ivana has not returned yet."

"Don't worry about Ivana," said Misato. "Maybe she actually had to clear a way for us."

After sorting out the items, they began their course towards Cinema 9. Upon entering, they noticed that everyone else was backed against the far wall. Misato opens her mouth to ask what was happening when a person whizzes past her fact and fell and slammed into the wall. The gang turned their heads to see Ivana. Seeing that someone had knocked her down the stairs, they looked up to see who it was, and to their surprise, it was Zack, and he was blocking the way to the back row.

"Had enough? You want more?" he called out to the Russian.

Ivana kick jumped back to her feet, and smiled. "If that is all you have, then this won't take long at all."

"I agree," replied Zack who mirrored her smile. "This won't take long at all."

Right as the two were about to clash again, a gunshot went off. Both combatants looked at where the shot went off, to see it was Misato who fired her gun into the air.

"Okay you two, that's enough!" She was furious. She just wanted a day where she could spend some quality time with her family, instead of playing referee, AGAIN!

"She tried to steal our seats!" Elly yells from the top of the stairs, "And we weren't about to let her walk all over us!"

"I was following orders, and this imbecile decided to get in my way," Ivana retorted.

"You threatened me!" Zack yelled out, pointing directly at her, "And I don't deal kindly to threats, especially from you!"

"Enough!" interjected Misato. "We'll all share the row then."

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2 and a half hours later

"Was that an atomic bomb, or was that an atomic bomb!" said Zack as they walked out of the theater.

"I couldn't hear anything over you and Elly making out," Asuka rudely replied, "You two ruined the whole movie."

"And you and Shinji were no different," Rei suddenly states in calm voice "You two were kissing for the majority of the movie."

"Hey!" yells a scandalized Asuka, "You were watching?"

"It was very… urgh!" suddenly dropping to her knees from some unknown force.

"Hey Rei, are you okay?" Misato asks worriedly as she lowers herself to Rei's level, "You still look really pale!"

Rei quickly gets back on her feet, "The pain has subsided. I am fine."

"I trust you Rei," Misato replies as she gets up, "Let's go guys." Everyone nods as they follow their guardian while Zack escorted Elly back to NERV.

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Home

"Have some orange juice Rei," Shinji suggests as he pours her a glass, "That will bring some colour back to your face."

"Thank you, Shinji-kun" Rei replies as she takes the glass.

"So what's on the agenda for nightfall?" Misato asks.

"Dinner, cooked by Shinji obviously," replied Asuka, "Then we do whatever we want for the evening."

"Works for me," interjected Zack who just came in. "What's cookin?"

"Whatever Shinji decides to make," said Misato.

"Sounds good. I'm off to watch some football." And with that he went off to the TV room.

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Later that night

Zack decided not to watch Jerry Springer that night. It had a long day, and between carrying Elly, fighting Ivana in the movie theater, and holding his breath for a long time during kisses, a guy could only handle so much before just dropping.

Pen-Pen came to the pullout couch, ready to watch the show, but Zack said otherwise, "Sorry buddy. Not tonight. Just too damn tired. Had a long day, and I got a feeling there'll be some bruises tomorrow. I may have had the upper hand today, but victory doesn't always come without its costs. She's gonna want to pound me tomorrow."

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Shinji and Asuka were still wide awake. They were just lying beside each other, looking each other in the eye.

"So Shinji, how much of the movie did you miss?" Asuka asks, still feeling very playful.

"I think I should have missed more," he replied tiredly.

"Really? If that's the case, would you like to make up for that lost time right now?"

Before Shinji can even muster an answer, Asuka quickly rolled on top of him and began to kiss him. This carried on for a couple of minutes before even Asuka had to catch her breath.

Asuka rolled off Shinji and began to pant heavily. "Wow. You're almost as good as me."

"Hey. I'm better than that," Shinji playfully retorts as he embraces her in a hug, "Wow, you're warm."

"Of course I am. I bet you enjoy holding me like this." They remain silent for a minute or two. It's still obvious that they are wide awake. Asuka got bored of lying like that. And when she got bored, there was the chance she may do something unorthodox.

"Hey Shinji, I'm bored."

"What do you want to do then?" he asked slowly becoming sleepy.

"I have a one-time offer your perverted mind won't be able to turn down. Do you want a feel?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" inquired Shinji not totally understanding the question on account of either drowsiness or plain ignorance.

"You don't know what a feel is?" Asuka asks, raising an eyebrow, "I guess for you guys actions speak louder than words." She began to undo the top few buttons of her pajama shirt, exposing her firm breasts underneath.

"Come on, I know you want to." She then positions herself overtop of him using her arms to keep herself off him so her chest was within easy reach.

Shinji literally freezes at Asuka's latest action. He had even stopped breathing. But he quickly regained his composure, and reached out with both hands toward his target. It felt like forever, but his hands eventually hit something soft: Asuka's breasts. Once there, he slowly began to massage her breasts, getting a positive reaction from Asuka. Once he knew she wanted more, he kept moving his hands all over her breasts.

"Ahh, that feels good. Don't stop…"

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Even later that night. (Give or take, let's say 1:45am)

As Ivana tries to sleep, she gets up to a strange ruffling noise. Looking around, she quickly realizes that it was coming from Rei.

"Rei?" she calls out worriedly. No response from Rei except for the stirring sound she was making. Ivana turns on the light on to see what was wrong with Rei, horrified at the sight she saw.

Rei was still very pale, and was tossing and turning, as if she was in a large amount of pain. She was also soaking wet. Ivana's first thought was that Zack did something he shouldn't have, however she then knew she would have noticed if that philanderer had dared march in uninvited. She walks over to Rei and feels her forehead, gasping as she pulls her hand back. She was burning up. She also felt a strange substance on her forehead, as it was all over her body as well. Realizing that the substance wasn't sweat, Ivana began to panic. Rei was REALLY sick.

Ivana quickly rushes to Misato's room, yelling out "Misato! Wake up!" It was just her luck, as she was drunk and had passed out.

"Wake up damn it!" this time shaking her roughly. Still failing to respond, she pulls out her gun, from underneath her nightgown and points it at the roof, and fires.

Misato slowly reacts to the gunshot. "What the hell is going on Ivana? Why the hell are you shooting a hole in my roof?" she asked groggily, as the hangover starts to work its magic.

Zack then came in, gun also drawn, "What the hell is going on?"

"It's Rei you fool! She's got some weird substance all over her body! And she's burning up!"

Despite her hangover, Misato forced herself to snap to attention and bolted into Rei's and Ivana's room. After taking a quick look at Rei, and taking her temperature, which read 105 degrees Fahrenheit, she quickly calls up Ritsuko.

"Misato… why are you calling this late at night?" was the dead tired response from Ritsuko on the other line.

"WAKE UP! WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY OVER HERE! SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH REI!"

A/N: And there you have it. It was tough, and there were a lot of obstacles to overcome (four of them actually) in this chapter's production. But in the end, the winner is… ME! This is symbolized by this chapter's completion. Oh yeah, and this was pre-read by Marine Brother Shran.

A/O/N: Shinji and Asuka did NOT do it in this chapter behind the scenes!

A/O/O/N: Happy New Year everyone! Be cool!


	49. ARS

A/N: I'm surprised at the initial reaction I got from you reviewers. No threats or anything in regards to Rei's health. More interest was drawn towards Shinji and Asuka getting a little kinky.And now the big question:WHAT IS WRONG WITH REI? Well, you can find out by reading this chapter. Let's rock!

The last twenty minutes had been a flurry of movement. Ritsuko and Maya had arrived at Misato's apartment with some medical equipment within ten minutes of Misato's call to the doctor. Ritsuko and Maya had gone into Rei and Ivana's room to examine Rei, while the others were now in the TV room, waiting out for Ritsuko to finish her diagnosis.

"Great so now Wondergirl is sick," said Asuka who was frustrated with being shaken out of bed for this, "What did she catch?"

"I'm not sure," replied Misato, who was feeling extremely stressed, "I've never seen anything like that before. Whatever it is, our little Rei is… YAWN… very sick."

"By the way Ivana," started Zack, who wasn't big over having the entire household minus Rei invading his sleeping space, "Why were you firing a gun to get someone's attention? Haven't you ever heard of a bucket of water?"

"In an emergency, you would do the first thing you know would awaken someone," Ivana curtly responded, "Besides, a hole in the roof can be fixed."

"Yeah, she's right," said Shinji, "Does anyone want coffee? Because I think we're in for the long haul tonight."

"Double-double," was the reply from a sleepy Zack.

"Triple-double," answered Asuka.

"Black," said Ivana.

"I'll have a beer please," called out Misato. And with that, Shinji went into the kitchen to prepare the coffees and beer. As he did so, the others continued to converse.

Asuka decided to start. "So Ivana, when did you notice something was wrong with Wondergirl?"

"Well, we've all noticed there was something wrong with her for the past few days," the Russian began, "But tonight I could hear that she was in a considerable amount of pain. So I turned the light on to see what the problem was. From looking at her, she was obviously soaking wet. And the first thing I thought of was that Mr. Casanova did something he shouldn't have."

"Hey!" Zack interjected, "I may be a ladies man and have my character flaws, but I wouldn't have done something like that!"

"You wouldn't have been able to do that without being shot six or seven times," Ivana shot back, "So I knew it wouldn't have been you. By instinct I checked her forehead, and she was obviously running a fever. And felt this substance on her body, which for some reason wasn't sweat. That's when I got Misato to come see Rei."

"Yeah, by shooting a hole in the roof," Asuka, grunted out, scratching the top of her head, "So we all know the rest. And Shinji and I came out of our room when we heard a bunch of racket from you three."

"Speaking of which, what were you and Shinji doing anyway?" asked Zack with a grin on his face.

"We didn't do anything," replied Asuka, raising an eyebrow at the so-called Casanova, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Now Misato joined in, with a wide smirk on her face, "Really Asuka? Then why is your pajama shirt half unbuttoned?"

"What?" Asuka looked down and then had a look on her face that said 'oh my god'. They could see her breasts because she had undone the top buttons earlier when she let Shinji feel them. Her face turned red pretty fast.

"You two were looking?" she yelled at Misato and Zack, who were grinning widely, "You perverts!"she shot out, quickly buttoning up her shirt. Next she heard some laughter from Ivana.

"You think it's funny too?"

Ivana was trying hard not to laugh. "It's just funny how you, of all people, who is so obsessed with modesty, let something like that slip for twenty whole minutes." Asuka was about to unleash her German fury on the three, when Shinji came back with several mugs and a beer on a tray he was carrying.

"Coffees are ready," he announced. He also had flushes of red on his face, and was pretending not to pay attention to what had just happened. He then noticed the big grins on Zack, Ivana, and Misato faces, along with a look of pure embarrassment on Asuka's face.

"So Shinji, were you and Asuka getting a little… kinky?" asked Misato with an obvious tone in her voice that showed she was teasing him.

Shinji tried to play dumb. "W-what are you t-talking about M-Misato?"

Misato continued to tease him, completely ignoring the rage being built up on Asuka's face, "Oh come on Shinji enlighten us. You got to feel them. Are her breasts soft, or hard? Did she moan loud, or quietly?"

Shinji was frozen in complete embarrassment, but Misato didn't stop. "Come on Shinji. Don't leave us hanging here. We want to hear some details!"

Asuka had about enough, "Hey! Shut up _du hure_! You're the dirtiest woman I've ever seen!"

"A-anyway, coffees are done. And there are coffees here for Dr. Akagi and Lt. Ibuki as well when they're done examining Rei," Shinji quickly stating completely trying to ignore what Misato was saying!

As if on cue, the doctor returned from Rei and Ivana's room. Misato immediately jumped up, "So Rits, what's the scoop on Rei."

Ritsuko quickly spoke up. "Not now Misato. All I can say at the moment is that whatever is wrong with Rei, it is really bad. I'm moving her to the NERV hospital where we can use better equipment to have a better understanding of the problem. I'll call for a NERV ambulance." Ritsuko pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number into it. After a few seconds she began to speak.

"Yes this is Dr. Akagi. I'm requesting an ambulance be sent to Major Katsuragi's residence immediately. I'll explain the details later," a momentary pause as she waits while the person on the other side speaks, "Good. Get over here as fast as you can, and cut off anybody if you have to." She then hung up.

Shinji finally spoke. "Doctor, here's some coffee for you and Lt. Ibuki. I figured you two are still tired, and could use a boost."

Ritsuko took two of the mugs, "Thank you Shinji. It's good to see you have your mother's traits." She went back into the room to give Maya her coffee and returned.

"So will Rei be alright?" Shinji asked.

Ritsuko gave him a face that showed doubt and concern. "To tell you the truth Shinji, I don't know. Tell you what, when I get Rei over to NERV and have her examined there, I'll be able to come up with an explanation as to what is wrong with her. That I promise you," Ritsuko then looked at Misato, "By the way, what was going on out here?"

"Oh just the same thing I play referee for everyday. Mindless, senseless arguing."

"Senseless?" interjected Asuka. "You were laughing the loudest!"

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In a car on the road

Gendo Ikari was driving towards NERV as fast as he could when he heard the news. He couldn't believe what was happening. Rei, the First Child, the last one like her that was still alive, had contracted some unknown illness that Dr. Akagi did not know of.

He did not even bother to get his limo driver up to escort him to NERV, as that would take too long. He checked the car's clock. 2:45am. It was going to be a long day indeed. From what he knew, Rei's body had some strange substance coming from her body, and a very high fever to tag along with it. From the looks of things, it was likely that Rei would not be able to pilot EVA for a long time, if not ever again.

He would be at NERV shortly. Telephoning Fuyutski about the situation would be better put off for later, as the Vice Commander was not going to be in today. Gendo always had a bad feeling about something happening to Rei or all the Reis for that matter if the scenario was aborted or compromised because nothing was ever planned to happen after the scenario.

A few minutes later, he had arrived at NERV. He quickly got through clearance, and proceeded straight to the NERV medical wing. Not wasting anytime whatsoever, he arrived at where Rei was being examined. He noticed right away, that Rei did not look well at all. And from the look on her face, one could tell she was in a lot of pain. Gendo knew Rei always had pale skin, but she looked as white as a ghost right now.

Ritsuko noticed the commander come in, "Commander Ikari sir."

"What is… the problem with Rei?" the commander inquired. So Ritsuko replayed back the entire story of how Ivana discovered Rei had a high fever, had some strange substance all over her body, and was in a lot of pain.

"I see," Gendo finally stated, after letting the story sink in, "Was a sample of the substance taken for analysis?"

"That was the first thing we did," said Ritsuko, "I hope it isn't what I think it is." The doctor took the thermometer that was in Rei's mouth out.

"What? Oh my god! She has a 106.5 degree temperature!" she darted over to the phone, "Maya! Get as many icepacks as you can down here! NOW!" she yelled into the phone. Less than a minute later, Maya, Makoto, and Shigeru who also came in when the news got out about Rei's illness had several icepacks in their hands. The three technicians placed the icepacks all around Rei in hopes that the ice would help lower her temperature which was dangerously high.

"Okay, now we can just hope that will lower her temperature," Ritsuko breathed out, the stress taking its toll.

She turned to Maya, "Did you finish analyzing what the substance was?"

Maya took a second before answering. "Yes doctor. You're not going to believe this, but the substance that we took from Rei matches the DNA of the Angel Lillith!"

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Later that day. Let's say about noon.

The Katsuragi household had pretty much gone back to bed after Rei went to the NERV hospital with Rei. They had a stretcher team come up and everything. Misato offered to come along for the ride, but Ritsuko said she should get some rest and come by later when the results came in.

Shinji was already up and out of bed. He went to the kitchen to get himself a glass of milk. While he was sipping away at the milk, he wondered if Rei was going to be alright. She was in a lot of pain when he saw her there lying in her room, drenched in whatever that was she was covered in. He didn't exactly love her like he did Asuka, but he knew there was something about Rei that he couldn't put his finger on. And whatever that was, it made her feel important to him.

He noticed Asuka come out of their room and walk into the kitchen, being quiet so as not to wake Zack.

"Hey. Look who's awake," she said softly.

"Hey Asuka," he replied back also speaking softly, "Yeah, I figured I'd sleep longer, but I'm just worried about Rei. I hope she'll be okay."

"You better not be getting depressed on me Shinji." Asuka leaned in front of him with her hands on her hips, "I spent too much time grooming you into someone who would actually be happy about life."

"I'm okay. Just can't help but be worried."

Asuka wrapped her arms around his neck, "Hey. Don't worry. She's the Wondergirl. She'll be fine." she kissed him quickly, "She's survived the 16th and 3rd Impact." She kissed him again.

"Since when are you nice about Rei?" Shinji asked.

"I prefer not to kick an adversary when she's down." She kissed him once more.

"Wow, since when did you become quite the kisser?"

"Since I fell in love with you." This time, she pulled him into a deeper kiss.

It seemed like the two would have gone on kissing forever if the phone didn't ring.

After two rings, Asuka just gave up and grabbed the phone, "Yeah, who is it?" a pause as Asuka listened to whoever was on the other line, "What? You were there all along?" another momentary pause follows before she responds, "Fine. But I'm coming too." She hung up the phone with great irritation.

"What is it Asuka?" Shinji asked, getting up from his seat.

"Oh it's Misato. She went to NERV while we were sleeping. They finally have an explanation as to what's wrong with Wondergirl, and they want you to go to hear the diagnosis," said Asuka, "But I'm coming with you."

"Alright, I guess we'll have to leave Zack and Ivana a note then." Shinji got his brown raincoat on as it was raining. Asuka donned her yellow raincoat, and the two tired EVA pilots made their way towards NERV.

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NERV HQ – Medical Wing (Quiet Please)

"So that's the diagnosis?" Misato asked, "That still does have to be the strangest thing I have ever heard."

"But it's the truth," said Ritsuko. "We have the evidence to back up that claim. PLUS you witnessed what I showed you two and did back in the Chamber of Guff just before the 17th Angel."

Misato asked another question. "Will Rei survive? I mean, this is pretty serious. And Asuka is coming too. Do you think it would be alright if she heard the news too?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Asuka knows or at least has some idea that Rei isn't exactly a normal human being," replied Ritsuko, "Oh look, the guests of honour are here now." Misato turns her head to see Shinji and Asuka come walking in with raincoats on, which was evidence that it was raining outside.

"We're here," declared Asuka, "So let's hear the explanation already."

"Okay," said Ritsuko. "Let's find a more comfortable spot to explain this."

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NERV Cafeteria – Today's special is a rib steak covered in BBQ sauce on a bun

And so, Shinji, Asuka, Misato, Ritsuko, and Elly who decided to follow along were now in the cafeteria about to discuss what was wrong with Rei over rib steak sandwiches.

"Why did we have to bring her along?" asked a frustrated Asuka.

"Hey I live here!" retorted Elly, "And besides, I just can't pass up a chance to see Shinji!" Elly just loved pissing Asuka off, and she was doing it again, "On top of that, I wanna hear what's wrong with poor Rei."

"You don't care a thing about Wondergirl!" shouted Asuka, "I know why you're here!"

"That's enough you two!" Misato shouted, rubbing her temples, as the stress from Rei and playing referee were staring to drive her mad, "I'm so tired of playing referee with you kids!"

After calming down, she motioned for Ritsuko to speak, "Okay, it's time they heard what is wrong with Rei."

Now Ritsuko began to speak. "So you three know of Rei's bizarre past right?"

The three kids nodded. Asuka spoke though. "Yeah, she's a test tube baby, about 200 times over."

The doctor continued. "But the thing was, I never explained what we used to originally create Rei." She looked at Shinji. "Shinji you should be aware of this, but the other need to know, so bear with me."

"Sure, but I need a refresher anyways," answered Shinji.

'That might complicate things,' Ritsuko thinks to herself before speaking, "To create Rei Ayanami that could pilot the EVA, we required two things. One of which would be Angel DNA. That was obtained from Lillith, which used to be kept in Terminal Dogma."

"And what was the other thing?" Asuka asked, with great interest.

"At your father's insistence," continued Ritsuko. "We used the DNA of Yui Ikari," now facing Shinji, "Your mother." Elly jumped back from the revelation, and Asuka brought her hands to her mouth in surprise.

"Yes, and that is why she bears some resemblance to Yui, and probably part of the reason why Yui's soul can integrate with Rei for a short time too. And it's also the reason why Rei can show some mother-like characteristics."

Shinji took some time to let this sink in, as he started to piece back what he had worked so hard to forget, 'So that's why I felt like her and I had some special bond,' he thought. 'She was created from my mother.'

Asuka decided to speak up, "So now that we know that, then what is wrong with Wondergirl?"

"Yeah," put in Elly. "I wanna know!"

"Very well," the good doctor continued. "But the thing is, is that Rei's original genetic code is based more on Yui than on Lillith. So Rei has more human properties than Angel properties. And Rei has a human immune system too."

"Wouldn't that mean that Rei's immune system would recognize the Angel DNA as a foreign invader?" asked Shinji.

"Yes that would be the obvious case," answered Misato.

"But we had altered her immune system so it wouldn't recognize the Angel DNA as foreign," Ritsuko continued, "But now, her immune system fixed itself, and now it's trying to reject the Angel DNA. And it will do so by whatever means necessary. Since her white blood cells can't take in the DNA, her system instead will expel the DNA through the pores in her skin instead."

"Can the immune system actually do that?" asked Elly.

"Logically, no," replied Ritsuko. "But it likely may have happened by accident when we first created her."

"So why is she in danger?" inquired Shinji, panic and worry starting to creep up.

"Two reasons," Misato began, "One is that her body is breaking down from rejecting the Angel cells, and two, to expel the Angel cells is putting a great deal of strain on her body. Too much of either would eventually kill her."

"We've decided to call this illness ARS or Angel Rejection Syndrome," said Ritsuko.

"Can we see her," Shinji hopefully.

Ritsuko shook her head. "I would advise against it. She's in isolation right now. The strain her immune system is under has weakened it greatly. If one of you was carrying something, she would catch it in no time. And her fever has shot up to 106 degrees, so another illness would put her in great danger. But I will tell her that you came to see her though. And I will try my best to help her."

"Thank you Dr. Akagi," Shinji replied dejectedly, letting out a heavy sigh as he gets up, "I'm going to go home and let this sink in."

"Me too," said Asuka as she rises to leave, "And I wanna get some rest." And so the couple grabbed their coats and made their way out.

"Bye Shinji! Bye Shinji's… bitch!" Elly called out as they walked down the hall.

"Hey! That little…"

"Just let it go Asuka," said Shinji. "Let's just go home."

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Home

Once they finally got home, they noticed that Zack was still snoring away on the couch. And Ivana was still sleeping too.

Since they were still tired, and had no interest in waking Zack up so they could use the TV, they simply returned to their room.

As they lay on their extra large futon, Asuka asked a question. "Are you okay Shinji?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's still sinking in. I couldn't believe Rei was made from my mother's DNA when I first found out before I met Kaoru, and I still can't believe it," he let out a wry chuckle, "When I think about it, it's like she's my sister."

Asuka had a smile on her face, "If that's the way things are, then I got nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean Asuka?" he asked with curiosity.

"That means I get you all to myself." And with that she rolled on top of him, and kissed him.

A/N: And there is the explanation. Will Rei survive ARS? Or will she eventually succumb to the deadly illness? Hopefully, this may become a hot topic on either my forum, or in the reviews you readers may send. Until the big 50, be cool!


	50. Prelude to Salvation

A/N: This is it! The long awaited 50th chapter! Another huge milestone for me! And I'm almost at 300 reviews! Woot! Woot! But now to the big issue at hand here: Rei Ayanami. She is suffering from ARS or Angel Rejection Syndrome. Will she survive? Or will she die? Read on!

NERV Hospital

Shinji looked on into a room from the observation room, within the NERV medical ward. The sight beyond the glass was horrifying to some extent, but that would not stop him from visiting anyway. On the other side of the glass, he saw Rei Ayanami, The First Child, designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 00, a friend of his, who was a connection between him and his mother, fighting for her very life with the use of a life support system.

Since Shinji's last visit, Rei's general appearance had greatly deteriorated. She was now of a ghostly white, and her face was contorted in pain. Her temperature had not lowered, and she had another expulsion of Angel cells the previous night. Ritsuko said she was in so much pain, that the doctor decided to put Rei into a medically induced coma to try and relieve some of the stress on her body. Yet despite the coma, her body continued to writhe in pain as it continued to destroy her from the inside out. Misato had given all the kids the day off from school for the Monday, with the exception of Elly, as she was still in NERV's custody.

That day, everyone was out doing their own thing for the day. Zack and Ivana got some much needed rest to compensate for the unfortunate all-nighter. Misato had likely gone off to see Kaji, and do more of what they do. Asuka was at home, just finding things to do to let time go by.

"Rei," Shinji weakly says to the sick girl. Even if she couldn't hear him because she was comatose, or because the observation window soundproofed the room, he felt he had to say something.

"You just have to get better. You may not know it, but you are an important person in my life. There are people out there who are worried about you okay? You're not fighting this alone. We're all here for you. Myself, Asuka, Zack, Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, Ivana, Elly, and Misato too. And the others as well. We're all praying for your recovery. Please, onee-chan, get through this. You don't deserve this pain," he began to walk away from the window, but turned back to see her one more time.

"I'll visit whenever I can," he finished saying. And with that, he began his stride home.

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Ritsuko's Office

Ritsuko was still going over the information they had on Rei and her condition, to see if it was possible to cure her. Ritsuko's past with Rei was not what many had considered to be the best of things because of Gendo Ikari, but she was trying her best to put the past behind her. She knew she would be no better than that bastard if she didn't try to help Rei.

She had looked over the data she had. The problem that was plaguing her was where the mistake in Rei's genetic patterns that allowed the Angel Rejection Syndrome to take place. After looking over it a few times with no success, she called Maya in.

Maya entered Ritsuko's office not long after she was summoned, "Yes doctor?"

Ritsuko got up from her chair, "I'm going to the sleeping quarters to get some rest," she states, as she rubs her forehead, "Just continue to go over Rei's data, and see if there's anything I missed from the previous scans."

"Yes doctor." Maya then sat down in the seat and began working while Ritsuko went to find herself a bed.

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Misato's Apartment

Shinji had finally arrived home, to see that Zack was watching TV on the couch, watching the Maury Povich show, and Ivana was sitting on the floor cleaning one of her many weapons. Shinji slightly smiled remembering the big fit Misato had when she had discovered how many weapons Ivana had concealed. His smile widened even further when he recalled how badly she shrieked seeing an Old Russian Pssh, and even an American M1 Carbine.

"So where's Asuka?" Shinji asks, as he takes off his shoes and sits down on an armchair.

"She likely went off to see one of her friends," Ivana simply replied, her eyes glued to the firearm in her hand, "Probably Hikari."

"I'm surprised she has any friends with her attitude," Zack darkly muttered, "I heard she went from most popular to not so popular in no time, while I shot all the way to the top."

"Just wait till everyone knows what an idiot you are, and then we'll see how long that lasts," Ivana scathingly retorted, looking up from her weapons.

"Do you two fight like this all the time?" Shinji inquired, as he tried to sink into the chair, and avoid a possible fury of fisticuffs.

"No," Zack raised his hands in mock shock, "I would never cause pointless fighting," suddenly then changed the subject, "So what's for lunch?"

"Let's just order pizza," Shinji sighs out, "Don't feel like cooking right now." He picked up the phone book and began looking for the pizza place.

"By the way, where's Misato?"

Ivana had a look of disgust on her face, "When I found out what she does with Kaji, I was so glad he does not live here. Otherwise, we'd hear her screaming her lungs out every night. She went to see Kaji." Now Shinji had a look of disgust while looking for the number while Zack mumbled something about Kaji being a player.

While dialing the number he found, he overheard Ivana and Zack going at it again, "If you had the chance, you would be doing disgusting things with Elly."

"I would not!" Zack shot out, sounding scandalized, "We haven't done anything yet."

"Yet? So you were going to!" angrily groaning in exasperation, with a hint of pain in her voice, "You men are all the same."

"All the same?" now Zack was confused, "What do you mean by that?"

"Never mind." Ivana went back to cleaning her guns. And someone had finally answered the phone from the pizza place.

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Somewhere in Tokyo-3

"So Rei is sick?" Hikari and Asuka were sitting on a bench to occupy some time. Asuka had decided to pop by school during lunchtime to socialize with her friend.

"Apparently, she's very sick. But the doctors don't know what it is yet." Asuka obviously knew the details of Rei's illness; Angel Rejection Syndrome was classified information. Information that Hikari wasn't allowed to know.

Hikari decided to change the subject, "So Asuka, I uh… have a question to ask."

"Go ahead," glad about the sudden change in subject, "Is it about that Stooge Suzahara?"

"Hey don't talk about him like that!" Hikari retorted in Toji's defense, "You don't know him like I do."

"Let me guess, you like him and want to tell him."

Hikari blushed, but nodded in confirmation, "But I can't… every time I try to tell him, I just… just freeze. And every time I finally muster it up, something inconvenient comes up and ruins everything. The last time I tried, there was an attack on the city and we had to run for the shelters."

"Then you gotta just keep trying until it works." Both Asuka and Hikari turned in the direction of the voice. It was Elly, pink hair and all.

"If you want advice, get it from a pro like me, and don't rely on someone who read the Complete Idiot's Guide to Romance!"

"Hey shut up you pink bitch!" Asuka yelled out, furious she was still trying to get in between herself and Shinji, "You never had to deal with telling Mr. Casanova how you felt."

"Only because he beat me to it," Elly casually replied, smirking afterwards.

She went over to Hikari. "If the only thing stopping you was a distraction, then I think you just need to keep trying."

"Really?" Hikari asked hopefully.

"Definitely," Elly replied, smiling, "I work with him, and he talks about you from time to time. I think he's just waiting for the message from you. And knowing the woman's intuition, it'll all work." Elly went on for a bit on what Hikari should do to guarantee getting Toji's attention and helping him fall for her.

The advices soon improved Hikari's mood, as she spoke with a new boost of confidence "Wow. Thank you Elly. I didn't know you knew so much about relationships."

"You learn quite a bit when you spend time on the beaches of Sydney mate," Elly smugly replies. The bell rang, which meant it was time for the next class.

"And that's my cue to exit. Best of luck my friend." And with that, Elly walked back towards the school. Asuka felt like she was ready about to challenge Elly and her so called knowledge that she probably dug out of 'Love for Dummies' when her cell phone began to ring. Upon checking it out, someone had sent her a text message. The message read:

_Asuka, we are ordering pizza soon. If you want some, I suggest hurrying home to get your slices before Zack does._

_Shinji_

Less than 10 minutes later, everyone's favourite, well not everyone's favourite redhead had found her way back to the somewhat dysfunctional apartment. She saw Zack watching the Maury show in English, and was making some comments at what she assumed was a woman who found out that the man she thought was her child's father was not. Ivana was now in a corner, cleaning some of her weapons, and Shinji was sitting at the table reading the newspaper. Asuka then picked up a magazine that Misato left lying around, and sat down as she made herself comfortable and read.

25 minutes later

"You're late! And that means the pizza is free dumbass!" Apparently, the pizza order arrived late, and Zack was trying to use the store's policy again to get some free pizzas.

"Come on sir…"

"Come on my ass!" shouted Zack, waving his fist in his face, "I'm so sick and tired of this bullshit your pizza store tries to pull! I'm gonna call my superiors at NERV, and they'll run you out of Japan!" And just like last time, the delivery man cowered to the threat of someone calling NERV. Zack came walking in with two pizza boxes which emitted the aroma of well… pizza.

"Pizza's here," he declared, "Let's fight over it."

"How about let's not," Asuka growls as she quickly grabs a box from his hands.

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On the roads of Tokyo-3

Misato felt relived after visiting Kaji at his residence in the Geofront. Although Ritsuko would shake her head in dismay, and Asuka would rant on about how dirty she is, a little time with Kaji always helped relieve the stress regardless of how much of a pain in the ass he was. Once she left his place, she called Ritsuko at NERV, only to have Maya answer instead.

"Hello," Maya answered exhaustion in her voice.

"Hey Maya," Misato replies back, "You sound tired. By the way, what's the status of Rei? I heard Ritsuko put her into a medically induced coma."

"Apparently, Rei had another DNA expulsion last night, and was still in a lot of pain on top of having a temperature that won't quit. The purpose of the coma was to relieve the stress on her body."

"What a bummer," Misato stated, with a tone of sadness in her voice, "Well, make sure to keep me posted on her condition. And get some rest if you get the chance. The mind doesn't always function properly when not well rested. "

"Will do Misato. Talk to you later." Maya hung up the phone. And so Misato continued on towards home, hoping to get a nice cold beer to finish offsetting the pain in her heart from seeing Rei sick like she is.

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After pizza, everyone went back to whatever they were originally doing. Ivana had finished cleaning her weapons, and was now into a novel written entirely in Russian. Zack was now watching the afternoon version of the Jerry Springer show with Pen-Pen. Shinji was in his room listening to his SDAT player and Asuka had fallen asleep and was snoozing on their futon.

Just then Misato came in the door, calling out, "I'm home." She noticed that Zack and Ivana were doing their own things, but the other two weren't around.

"Where are the lovebirds?" she asks, as she walks towards the kitchen to grab a beer.

"In there," said Ivana as she lazily pointed in the direction of their room.

Misato immediately halted, as she went into shock for a second, "They're not doing it are they?"

"Don't worry," assured Zack, "If they were doing the bad thing, or getting kinky, we'd be hearing it. Wonder why I got the volume down low?"

"I see." Misato went to the fridge and got out a beer.

"Ah, nothing tastes good like beer after se…" she trailed off not daring to finish the last word.

"After what?" Zack calls out, looking at her curiously.

Misato's mind scrambled as she tried to find a word to replace her most secret addiction. "After… see-sawing in the park."

"See-sawing?" Ivana asked suspiciously as she put her book down, and eyed her dangerously.

"Hey, we all still have the little kid inside of us," Misato nervously replied, "You'll notice that when you grow up too and be like me."

"Be like you… no thank you," Ivana replied, scoffing at the idea as she went back to her book. She knew damn well what that last word was, but was not in the mood to start another fight over it. Glad that she averted what could have been a disaster, Misato makes her way to the couple's room, and peeks inside. To her relief and correct assumption, the two were soundlessly asleep. Shinji was sleeping with his head on the pillow, while Asuka was sleeping horizontally with her head on his chest, bobbing up and down with Shinji's breathing. Misato made a mental note to wake them up soon so they would sleep tonight. She wanted them to go to school tomorrow.

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NERV HQ –Barracks (Where you go when you plan to be at NERV all night)

After taking quite the long needed snooze, Ritsuko Akagi stretched as she finally got out of bed, and felt much better rested. Ritsuko quickly remembered the task at hand which was finding a way to save Rei, the last of her kind from the deadly illness of Angel Rejection Syndrome.

Not even bothering to change out of her pink slippers, she proceeded down NERV's halls until she reached her office where she found Maya doing everything she can to stay awake, while continuing her research.

"Getting enough sleep?" she asked as she walked in. Fortunately, Maya was so either out of it, or seriously concentrating on her work, that she was startled by her superior's question.

"Ahh Doctor, you startled me there for a second," said Maya, as she clutched her chest from shock, "No I haven't been sleeping at all. This is just tiresome, and I haven't found anything. I'm sorry, I tried…"

"Relax Maya. This illness is mind-boggling, even for me," Ritsuko looked at the monitor. "Not even the MAGI can think of a solution."

"Yeah. If it's beyond the MAGI, it's likely beyond us too," Maya stated regretfully, "It's too bad we don't have any more replacements," remembering what happened with Ritsuko and the other 200 or so Rei's, "I'm sorry Doctor."

"It's all right Maya," Ritsuko replied, placing a hand on the young officer's shoulder. 'Wait a minute,' she thought to herself.

Maya noticed that her superior seemed to be lost in thought for while, "Uhh… Doctor?"

"Eureka! That's it!" the blonde suddenly shouted, as she practically shoved Maya out of the chair, and began furious work on her computer.

45 minutes later

"So why did you call us down here?" asked Misato. She had brought the whole crew from her apartment. Herself, Shinji, Asuka, and Ivana were in a briefing room with Ritsuko and Maya. Zack on the other hand was off to hang with Elly so the both of them would be out of everyone's hair.

Ritsuko began to speak, "After long deliberation, we believe we have found a way to save Rei."

"Really? How?" Shinji asked, anxious to see Rei up and about ASAP.

"Well, Rei's body as it is will soon die," Ritsuko solemnly replied.

Misato and Shinji were about to interject when she quickly cuts in, "Hold on, I'm not done. The only way to save Rei is to make her a new body."

"Can you actually do that?" inquired Misato.

"Do you need to ask that?" answering her question, with another question, as she raised her eyebrow, "Did you already forget the fact you saw what was the core of the Dummy Plug System a while back?" Misato growled angrily at the smugness on her face, and was on the verge of snapping from the stress.

"Yes we can," Maya quickly interjected, attempting to defuse the situation, "We have DNA from Reilith that we can use in constructing her new body along with the DNA we have from Yui as well."

That seemed to have calmed Misato down, as she continued her line of questions, "But wouldn't that just make the ARS relapse and come back?"

"That's the other part," Ritsuko replied, "Because Rei has a S2 organ the Angel DNA is required temporarily. But after that, we need to convert the DNA into human DNA, and the S2 organ with it as well. But we need a human donor for the DNA," Ritsuko then turned to look at Shinji, "Since Rei will not accept anything that doesn't have her genetic code, we have to use something that comes as close to her as possible, then use immune suppressants to make it stick. You are the closest to matching Rei's DNA."

"Me?" Shinji jumped back in surprise.

"This is completely up to you. But if you wish, we can take a DNA sample from you, and use it to save Rei. Yui's DNA is part of you, as much as she is part of Rei. So chances are that she will accept you, just like a normal brother would donate for his sister," Ritsuko explained.

"So Reilith's DNA would convert into Shinji's DNA, using DNA manipulation?" Asuka asked, as all this talk of DNA manipulation, cloning and others, was greatly intriguing her college mind.

"Exactly," Ritsuko replied in a manner-of-fact tone, "And as for Rei's memory and soul, they can also be transferred into the new body we are making for her. So long we can keep her soul intact within the S2 organ inside her body, we can transplant the soul into the new body, as we have done before with the 2nd and 3rd."

"Will this work?" asked Misato, when another question hit her, "Wait…where the hell are you going to get Reilith DNA? I thought all of her remains were destroyed.

"To answer your first question, we don't know," the good doctor replied, "Although we have done this procedure multiple times, some have lead to failure. There is a chance this won't work, and we only have one shot, as we can only have so much DNA at our disposal."

"But if the surgery goes as planned," Maya continued on, "Rei's life will be saved. But there may be some side effects to this."

"Like?" Ivana asked, as she continued to listen attentively.

"Since she'll have Yui's and Shinji's DNA in her, the chromosomes in her body may start altering her body to match the chromosomes' information." They were a tad confused for a moment before Maya spoke again.

"In simple terms, she'll start looking like Shinji." This put a look of surprise on everyone's face.

"And as for your second question," the doctor continued, "Reilith was not completely destroyed. I don't know if you were ever told this, but Unit 02 was reconstructed through usage of Reilith's body."

"WHAT!" Asuka shrieks out, "You mean that my precious Unit 02 is going to save Wonder Girl!"

"That is correct," Ritsuko calmly replies. Asuka opens her mouth in objection, but noticed the pleading look in her eyes, that she let out a sigh, and tells them to do what they needed to do.

Ritsuko then returned her attention towards Shinji, "So Shinji, do you wish to donate some DNA. We just need to take a blood sample from you, and we can go from there."

"Okay, I'll do it," Shinji confidently replied, "I'll give her some of my blood."

Shinji was then led into a room where they did some initial tests to determine if his blood was safe to use, which was deemed safe. The doctors in there then laid him down on a bed.

"We're going to take some blood from you," one of them explained, "You may feel a little weak and some dizziness afterwards. But it will be nothing a night's rest will take care of." Within about 10 minutes, he was brought back out, already feeling the effects of sudden blood loss.

"Feeling alright Shinji?" Misato asked worriedly.

"Just…YAWN…tired…"

"Good. Then we can go home, while they save Rei," Misato turned to faced Ivana, "Go find Mr. Casanova, tell him to finish up, and then we're going home."

"Understood." Ivana then went down the hall to Elly's room.

"So Misato," began Shinji. "What's for din…" he suddenly looked dazed and almost fell if it wasn't for Asuka and Misato catching him.

"Looks like someone's tired out," Misato joked, "Hopefully Casanova can carry or drag him back to the car when he comes back."

A/N: And there you have it! Rei has been given a chance to fight for her life! Will she survive the surgery? Or will she die during surgery? Finally, I have completed the 50th chapter! Wow, what a feat!

A/O/N: Give a BIG thanks to my prereader, Marine Brother Shran. He's made the last few chapters better than ever since he offered to preread for me.

A/O/O/N: For other details, or if you have any questions about this fic that you want answered, check out my forum when you get the chance.

Until chapter 51 and beyond, be cool!


	51. Path to Salvation

A/N: Wow! What a reception! With the exception of Chapter 1, Chapter 50 got the most reviews for a single chapter ever in the span of time since it went up! This may be a complicated chapter, and possibly may contain content some of you can't stomach. That content has to do with Rei's life saving surgery. Hopefully I know more about surgery than Dr. Nick does. So here we go!

It was going to be a very long day for the Katsuragi residence. Today felt like Judgment Day. At least it would be that way for Rei Ayanami. Today, Ritsuko and a team of doctors would attempt to save Rei's life through a very unorthodox way of surgery.

Everyone minus Zack and Asuka, were sitting at the table, for Asuka was lying on the couch, and it was supposed to be Zack's turn to make breakfast. But instead of cooking, he said he had to go out and get something and that he'd be right back. And that was half an hour ago.

"Where did he go?" Shinji wondered aloud, "If he doesn't come back, I could always make something."

"No you're not," Asuka called out from the couch, "He's gonna make something to eat whether he likes it or not," she then sat up and looked at Ivana, "Say Ivana, why don't you go hunt him down and kick him in the nuts?"

Ivana smirked as she found that rather humorous, "I probably should do that. But I won't have time to because we still have school in half an hour." Suddenly, the door opened and in came Zack with Elly. There sudden appearance only made everyone else cringed, as they were both holding several white Styrofoam boxes.

"Look it's the Gruesome Twosome," Asuka growled, narrowing her eyes.

"Sorry I took so long," Zack nervously replied, "But I made a quick stop at NERV to get Elly to help me carry all these."

"Yeah, so say thanks," said Elly who was grinning at Asuka. This didn't make things any good for Asuka.

"So what did you get?" asked Misato, who was quite hungry herself, and wanted a day off from being a referee.

"We stopped at McDonalds," Elly replied, "Zack bought everyone pancakes there." Elly then gave a package to everyone.

"Zack was even nice enough to get one for Pen-Pen too," she continued while petting Pen-Pen and making him feel appreciated.

As everyone was eating, Zack is sitting on the counter as he had given Elly his seat, Zack noticed something odd, "Say Misato, where's the morning beer?"

"Are you nuts?" Misato replied, nearly outraged, "You expect me to be in a hospital buzzed or drunk!"

"So Misato, you're going to NERV to watch Rei's surgery?" Shinji asked, while everyone watched Zack cower behind the counter in fear. He swore he could see flames in her eyes.

"Yup," she cheerfully answered, as if nothing was amiss, "Since I'm her legal guardian, I have to sign the papers authorizing Ritsuko to do a surgery that has a chance of killing her." This made everyone gasp for a moment.

"No, I'm not asking Ritsuko to kill Rei. It's just that she may die during surgery," she quickly added, the look of shock on their faces scaring her.

"Can you tell us what happens if something happens while we're at school?" Shinji asked apprehensively.

Misato assured the boy, "Don't worry Shinji. I'll make sure Asuka's replacement is just fine," she finished with a teasing gesture that was aimed at Asuka.

Asuka had had enough, "Come on Shinji we're leaving." She pretty much dragged Shinji out the door before anyone could say or do anything. Once the door close, everyone broke out laughing.

"Man, she needs to relax," laughed Misato.

"Amen to that," Zack called out who finally came out of his hiding place.

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NERV Hospital – Briefing Room

Ritsuko was in a room with a team of handpicked doctors who were preparing for this very unusual operation. All of them were Ph. D's with at least 15 years experience each. She was giving them the final briefing before this operation would commence.

"Alright, you've all looked at how we're going to do this. This will be very complicated indeed." She pointed to a chart with Rei on it.

"Basically, we're going to reconstruct Rei and make her a new body."

One female doctor asked a question, "How are we going to make her a new body with the cells she has now? Isn't that what caused Angel Rejection Syndrome in the first place?"

"We have a donor with a relatively close genetic match up," answered the doctor. She showed everyone a vial of blood.

"You will each use the portions of the Reilith DNA to provide instructions during the creation of each of her organs, and body parts, and the DNA found in this blood." She paused for a moment before continuing.

"Her code however, needs to be rewritten. Alter the cells so that they first use the Reilith DNA to construct her body, but then change into the donor's DNA here, after a set amount of time. I have deemed it to be two weeks before the DNA begins to alter itself."

"Why would you want us to create organs for a teenager?" asked a male doctor this time, "If we were to create another human being, wouldn't they start out as a zygote or an embryo?"

"In most cases, yes," said Ritsuko. "But also, another alteration needs to be made. We have a new device that allows us to alter cells so that cell growth is accelerated. The plan is to accelerate the cell growth 15 standard years, or so, so that it matches Rei's current age. And the body will build itself up. Once that happens, I will then inform you on how we will proceed from there."

Another doctor raised his hand, "And what of the S2 organ? It also possesses the Angel DNA. What happens if we alter that with the donor's DNA?"

"The S2 organ is what her soul is housed in when the body dies, and what grants her, her powers. We will have to rewrite the S2 organ in the new body after it's been completed. We'll alter her S2 organ to mutate into her reproductive organs in time with the rest of her body."

"Dr. Akagi, if that is the case, what about the soul that I've been hearing about?" the same female doctor asked.

"That is a procedure I will conduct myself," she firmly replied, "That is a delicate operation, and only myself and one other are capable of such."

"I see. With your permission, may we observe the operation?"

"You may."

Once more, a doctor raised her hand, "Since we're altering her DNA, won't that change her overall appearance?"

"Most likely it will. Are there any further questions concerning this operation?" silence, "Very well."

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Once the kids were off to school, Misato was off to NERV to fulfill her duty as Rei's guardian. Sign the official documents giving Ritsuko the permission to perform what is likely a dangerous surgery, and give Rei any possible moral support she could. As she drove along, the memory of the incident that morning at the kitchen table came to her mind. 'Man, Asuka needs to relax. She doesn't realize we were kidding.' She was laughing out loud now as she was driving. 'Well when Ritsuko came over to examine Rei, we really tore into her though. Maybe I should have Kaji give Shinji the talk just in case something really happens. I think I can and should give Asuka the talk as well.'

Finally, Misato arrived at NERV HQ, as she parked her car Misato style. Once the computer recognized her as Major Katsuragi Misato, the large blast door granted her access inside. She proceeded quickly to NERV's hospital, where the EVA pilots usually ended up if they were injured in battle. Being here reminded her of the time Shinji first went head-to-head with the 3rd and 5th Angel, and the time with the 12th Angel as well.

Finally she arrived in the hospital wing, she told the receptionist at the desk that she wished to see Dr. Akagi. After flashing her ID allowing her clearance to see the doctor, she continued on to where Ritsuko was. She was in a briefing room drinking coffee and had a folder on the table.

"Ah Misato. So good of you to join us," said the blonde.

"It's not good what Rei has to go through," countered Misato. She took the papers from Ritsuko and began to read them over.

"So what are the real risks that could endanger her?"

"Let's see," Ritsuko looked at Rei's medical documents. "There's the probability that her soul may not stay within the S2 organ long enough and rejoin Lillith. The body's going to die soon."

She flipped the page, "And the other chance is that the new body may not function when completed."

"It's almost like you're playing God by doing this Rits," said Misato still looking over the papers.

"Yes, but this is the last time, and it's the only real chance to save Rei. You do want her alive and kicking again right?"

"You bet I do," Misato had a smile on her face, "Especially since Rei is more or less an Ikari when she comes back. I'd hate to see what would happen to Shinji if Rei doesn't come back." In her hand were the necessary documents with her signature on it.

"Go for it."

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Operating Room – No eating or drinking! (An hour later)

This was it. Time to do this seemingly impossible operation. It was very complicated indeed. The whole concept in general was complicated, and almost mind boggling, unless you were one who was familiar with the previous war. The first step would indeed be complicated. The first step was to take a single cell and alter the chromosomes of the cell.

"Okay," Ritsuko firmly spoke, "We have to remove the chromosomes from the cell first." She motioned to a group of doctors.

"Your group will remove the chromosomes. And be careful so as not to risk damaging the cell."

Ritsuko turned to another group, "Your job is to use the donor's chromosomes and merge them with the Angel chromosomes. But make sure that it is set so the donor's DNA will overtake and replace the Angel DNA, 2 weeks from now, and then merge with the present human DNA. Once you are all finished your tasks, we shall move on to the next step."

Ritsuko then turned to another team of doctors, "Your job will be to digitize Rei's memories and upload them onto the MAGI," pointing to Rei's comatose body near a computer terminal, "That is the easy step in this operation, so you guys have it easy. HOWEVER, you only have one shot, and the wrong button will wipe her. We haven't updated the MAGI data, so if we use the one the MAGI has, it was last updated just prior to 3rd Impact. So I beg you, don't screw this up."

"Yes doctor," the group replied in unison.

Removing the cell's original chromosomes was not easy. It was suggested that they just remove the part that held Lillith and merge it with Shinji's DNA. But Ritsuko rejected the idea, saying it was necessary to use the altered Angel DNA first so it would accept the S2 organ that housed Rei's soul.

While one team was removing the original chromosomes from the cell, another team was using Yui's DNA and merging it with the Reilith DNA that they had altered to eventually turn into Shinji's DNA. It would also consist of a difficult task. The slightest error among any lines could cause havoc for the newly constructed Rei.

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Tokyo-3 High

Shinji was having extreme trouble concentrating on school for the day. He was just too damn worried about Rei. His cooking teacher had to call him a few times even to get his attention. So at the end of the first class, he slinked over to a payphone within the school, and called Misato.

He waited out a few rings, until Misato finally answered, "Hello?"

Shinji waited a few seconds before speaking, "Hi… Misato."

"Shinji?" Misato seemed surprised that Shinji would call while at school, "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"Class just ended," Shinji quietly answered, "But, I just can't concentrate. I'm just too worried about Rei that's all."

"Cheer up," Misato spoke in a cheery tone, "Rei's in surgery right now. The doctors are doing the best they can to save her."

Misato suddenly had a different thought, "Where's Asuka at the moment? I figured she'd never let you out of her sight knowing how possessive she is of you."

"She went off to her own class," Shinji replied, "What I meant to ask was that could I come to NERV? I figure if I go to the source of my worries, maybe it'll help me relax."

Misato, tough gal Major of NERV, who never wavered in the face of fear, could still not turn down the request of a child, "Okay Shinji," she replied with a sympathetic tone, "I'll call the school and request you come to NERV on official business. I'll also ask Asuka to come too."

"Thanks Misato."

"Hey, what can I say? You kids are like my children. When you are hurt, I am hurt too."

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"Master, so how is the situation?"

"Well, it's taking a path I did not predict, but assumed it was going towards one of the scenarios I predicted." Two hooded men were walking through what looked like a medieval dungeon. The tall one was the one who asked the question, while the shorter one gave the answer. The place was far from pleasant looking too. There were people in the cells, begging for mercy, or begging to be put out of their misery.

"Master, the one thing I don't understand is why we do not send out Nebuchadnezzar now? Now would the most prime of opportunities to achieve our goal," the taller one inquired with a hint of agitation, "Because one of their comrades is sick, their morale is low, and so their resolve would be weaker when we unleashed our attack."

"You simply do not understand do you old friend?" the shorter one replied patiently, "It's an unwritten rule among all warriors, the rule where you don't kick an enemy when he is down. Even if Nebuchadnezzar was summoned and we did win, it wouldn't feel the same. You can't really bring down an enemy who was already fallen. It is pointless." they continued to walk past an endless line of cells, "You can determine how far someone can fall by how high up they go."

"So when we beat them when they are at their best, it will make our victory all the sweeter."

"Exactly. It will not be easy, but your drive to win grows when your opponent is able to fight back," the shorter one smugly replied.

"You will… not beat them…" called out a voice. It came from one of the cells.

This caught the shorter one's attention, "Ah, who is so bold as to believe I can't win?" He peeks into the cell to see who. There was a girl, who appeared to look like she had been tortured. She was dressed in a ragged shirt and shorts, and was handcuffed to the wall of the cell. Her green eyes shone brightly despite the darkness of her cell and her beaten body.

"Mana Kirishima is it? You used to be so loyal to me at one time. You almost won too against the EVA pilots. And now you oppose me. Not much you can do though being chained to the wall," he let out an evil chuckle, "Your AT Field was shattered because you surrendered and now your soul belongs to me."

"You… lied… to Me," she struggled to say, "Shinji will… destroy you…"

"Is that so?" suggested the man with the hood, "Maybe you'll still have your uses perhaps. Maybe…." he motioned to the tall one, "Come, let's go."

"Yes Master."

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NERV Hospital

"Perhaps your worries about Wondergirl have its uses after all." Asuka was walking with Shinji towards NERV. She was clutching one of his arms and letting her head rest on his shoulder as they continued on towards NERV. Misato had called the school and requested that they be allowed to leave school and go to NERV for 'official' reasons.

"How so?" asked Shinji.

"If you should ask, the teacher I had for my next class was a total jackass," she replied in a highly annoyed manner, "No sense of empathy for anyone whatsoever."

"Sounds like Coach Thunder," Shinji joked. This got them both laughing as they continued towards NERV.

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Outside the Operating Room

Ritsuko decided to come outside for a few minutes. The doctors were doing an excellent job so far. These doctors were actually handpicked by the Commander, so she knew they wouldn't let her or the Commander down. The chromosomes had been successfully removed from the cell, and were planning to reinsert the newly altered ones in its place. As she looked into the waiting room, she saw Misato had sat down and was reading a book.

"Nervous aren't you?"

"Sort of," she replied, looking up from her book, "This operation is a high risk like you said. And I know the others would be crushed somewhat if she dies."

Ritsuko tried to reassure her, "We're doing our best Misato. And the doctors are doing a phenomenal job so far."

"So what exactly have you done so far," the Major inquired.

"Well, the first thing we did was take a cell from Reilith. And then we decided to extract the chromosomes from it, and replace them with the chromosomes we altered ourselves."

Misato raised her brows for a second. "Hey, isn't the removal of chromosomes from a cell illegal?"

Ritsuko smiled, "Yes it is. But answer this then: If you wanted to save the life of someone, but you had to steal the medicine to save her, would you do it?"

Misato came to a realization, "Well it is against the law, but morally it would be the right thing to do overall."

"Exactly," confirmed the doctor with a bright smile, "Morally we're doing the right thing. And the government gave us jurisdiction as to what goes on in here. So really we can do this."

"So what exactly do you plan to do next?"

Ritsuko explained to Misato the process, "Well afterwards, we're going to insert the chromosomes into the cell, and then mitosis does its work from there.

Now the guardian was confused, "I wasn't that good in Biology, but if I'm correct, wouldn't that take a long time for her to grow from a zygote back into what she used to be?"

"Technically yes," Ritsuko relied with a smirk, "But we just found a breakthrough in technology that allows us to accelerate the zygote's growth. Once we finish altering the cell, we will place in a tank of special LCL we developed that allows the cell to grow and expand at a rapid pace."

"Wow, that's awesome."

"Yes it is. It will still take a few hours to grow the cell, and we have to monitor it closely too in case anything goes wrong. But I had better get back now." And with that Ritsuko went back into the operating room. So Misato went back to her book. Right as she was about to start reading again, two more people came in. It was Shinji and Asuka, and Asuka looked like she wanted to take Shinji's arm all for herself.

"Ah, it's about time you guys showed up," she called out, smiling at the couple.

"So how is the operation going Misato?" Shinji quietly inquired.

Misato gave him a neutral face, "Well, they haven't gotten that far yet. It's going slowly so as not to make any mistakes," but then her face brightened again, "But so far, everything is going as planned, so there's no need to worry."

"Hey Shinji," started Asuka, "I'm hungry. Can you buy us lunch?"

"Go ahead Shinji," said Misato, "If anything happens, I'll let you know."

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Operating room

Ritsuko looked on as the doctors continued to work with the microscopic equipment. So far, everything was going as planned. But it was going slow though. One of the doctors came up to her.

"Doctor Akagi, we've finished replacing the chromosomes for the cell," said the doctor.

"Good," replied the doctor, "Have them place the cell in the special tank we have set up for it. The fluid in the tank will allow the cell to grow at an accelerated rate. Our next task will be to monitor the cell so it grows properly into a human shaped structure."

"Yes ma'am." And with that, the doctor went off to tell her colleagues the new commands. Playing God sure was not fun. It wasn't back then when they first batch was created, and still isn't now. Perhaps this job should be better off left to the big man up there in heaven. But there was still the threat of the Black Angels, who followed somebody who was not God at all, and whoever was behind this threat would threaten to destroy all humanity and maybe cause a 4th Impact if one was possible.

Ritsuko went over to where the doctors were placing the cell in the tank. She then gave the order to fill the tank with the special LCL to accelerate its growth. Hopefully this would lead to a breakthrough in medical technology so if the other EVA pilots sustained any fractured limbs or burns or anything such, this fluid could be used to heal those injuries at a fast pace so they would be ready to go much sooner than waiting forever to heal. Not long after her order was given the tank which held the single cell was filled with the LCL and only time would tell if Rei could be given a new body.

"It's working Doctor Akagi!" a male doctor called, "The cell is undergoing mitosis at an accelerated rate!" Ritsuko smiled at the results.

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NERV Cafeteria

"Trust me Asuka, the food here is actually pretty good," he assured his girlfriend.

"Well it had better be. I won't complain that much since it's you that paying for it."

"WHAT? Why me?"

"Because it's the boy that's supposed to pay for himself and the girl. I thought you knew that was an unwritten rule."

"Okay. What do you want then?" Shinji and Asuka were having a small discussion on the quality of food in NERV's cafeteria. Asuka seemed convinced that the food here was bad, but Shinji was certain that the food was just fine.

"Let's see," said Asuka as she looked over the menu, "A rib steak sandwich glazed in BBQ sauce, and a bottle of Coke to go with it." So she watched as Shinji went up to the counter to place her order and his as well. She noticed his confidence had grown in the past while, and he stopped apologizing like he used to. She didn't mind if he apologized for something he did wrong, she just didn't like it when it got to the point where he just wouldn't stand up for himself.

Now as he was paying for their lunch, and not to mention scrambling to find enough money to do so, her memory flashed back to the night they fooled around a bit. It actually felt rather good though. His hands were soft and smooth, like a baby's almost. She replayed the moment over and over again in her mind. The only thing bad about it was Misato, Zack, and Ivana teasing her about her forgetting her pajama shirt was half unbuttoned. Her train of thought was interrupted by Shinji returning with their respective lunches.

"Something on your mind Asuka?" he asked her curiously.

"Nothing to worry about. Let's just eat because I'm starving. I'll tell you when we get home."

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Misato had finally finished her book. She had actually read the whole thing through. She checked the time. Almost four hours had gone by! The kids would be home from school by now. Her first instinct was to check on Rei though. But Ritsuko was there in front of her.

"Going to ask how Rei is doing?"

"You got me Rits," replied the Major, "What's her status?"

Ritsuko had a smile on her face, "Like I said, the process would be a long one, but it's going exactly as we planned it would."

She motioned for Misato to follow, "Come on, I'd like to show you something." And so Misato followed Ritsuko into the examination room. She told Misato to look through the window and see what was in the tank. She gasped at what she saw in the tank.

Floating in the tank in suspended animation was what Misato assumed to be a child. Likely a toddler. The toddler was curled in a fetal position, floating while attached to the machine.

"Misato," started Ritsuko. "This is Rei V."

**Hey guys, this is Marine Brother Shran, J.G. the Hotshot Gamer's editor. Sorry for not getting this to him right away, but with school and all, I've been swamped. I hope that you guys enjoy reading this as much as he enjoys writing this and me editing this for your entertainment. Well anyways, that's all from me.**


	52. Ayanami Reborn

A/N: Well here we are again! Chapter 52! Wow have we all come a long way or what? The current topic, Rei Ayanami is undergoing a lifesaving operation. Will she survive? Things are looking good so far. On with it!

8 hours later – NERV Hospital

It was just a bit past midnight at NERV HQ, and fatigue was beginning to set into Maya Ibuki's eyes. Watching and observing the shell for Rei Ayanami's soul grow in the observation tank was far from entertaining. But it was a job that had to be done. Ritsuko Akagi had put a lot of trust in her, and she would not let her superior down. The body's growth was on schedule and so far everything was going as planned. Its approximate age was now eleven years old since it started. It was surely taking a long time to do. Maya checked her watch, to see that it read 12:25am. Ritsuko said she could go to bed around this time. She would need all the rest she could get, knowing the procedure of transferring the soul from one body to another was a very delicate procedure.

As for the examination of the currently comatose Rei IV, that body was still functioning. The temperature was finally beginning to go down too. But soon Rei wouldn't have to worry about her current body, as the new one would soon be made for her. But then again, if this attempt to create a new body failed, the fourth body would die not long afterwards, and after a few hours if the S2 organ wasn't transferred, or put on life support, Rei would truly die and rejoin the rest of Lillith's soul.

After giving some final instructions to the doctors who were observing Rei to inform Dr. Akagi should anything go wrong, she proceeded to the sleeping quarters at NERV to get some sleep.

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Around the same time except at Misato's flat

Misato was slowly getting around to finishing off her fifth beer of the night. She knew damn well that the kids were not fond of her drinking habit. But with their narrow minded trains of thought, they neglected to realize that she made sure she recycled every can of beer she had, so there would be more cans, to well… drink more beer.

The others had long gone to bed, except for Zack and Pen-Pen who were watching the Tonight Show on the television. Zack had asked Misato to get a satellite so he could get some more English channels on the set. Misato had no problem with this as long as he helped pay for the satellite which he didn't object to, and that he made sure what he was watching was appropriate. But it would take him forever to figure out the parental code. He would literally have to go through 9999 different codes to find the right one. On an odd note, Misato had been suspecting that Zack was teaching Pen-Pen English as she noticed Zack didn't have the Japanese subtitles on.

Unfortunately for her, the kids had no school tomorrow. There was an accident in one of the science labs. As a result of the accident, there was an explosion which injured some students and blew out all the windows. That, and it also blew the a hole in the roof, taking out the ventilation system, and also charred Coach Thunder's poor rear, as he was…'unfortunate' enough to be near the explosion on the roof. Because of this little, incident, it would mean either Commander Ikari, or Sub Commander Fuyutsuki, would have to go down to the school and chew out whoever allowed that accident to take place. According to NERV's investigation, the explosion occurred in the class Elly was in earlier that day. So that meant she was in potential danger.

Shinji however, was happy to hear the news that his "sister's" surgery was coming along well. She had told him how they had grown Rei from a single cell into what was at that point and time, a three-year-old toddler. By now, she'd have grown to be somewhere between ten and twelve years old. But then she wondered how NERV would pull off Rei's changing appearance when she came into surgery. Rei would likely lose her blue hair and red eyes, in exchange for brown hair and eyes similar to that of Shinji and Gendo. Although she didn't mind the red eyes and blue hair, but she hoped that at least the albino aspect would go.

Misato sipped what was left of the can, chucked it into a nearby bin, and stared at the last can. Now came a critical decision: To either guzzle down one more can, or call it a night and save some for tomorrow. She was running out again and would have to get more. She knew she would have to go into NERV tomorrow, so she didn't want to be hung over when she went in. As far as she was concerned, her mind was still intact as she felt she could still think rationally. Rationality for once being the victor in his holy battle of to drink or not to drink, she slowly got up, put the sixth can back in the fridge and retreated to her room for the night. Next morning would be hectic.

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Next morning – NERV HQ Sleeping Quarters

As much as Ritsuko would like to wake up to the sun shining through the window, the dark corridors of NERV HQ did not allow such a liberty to take place. She slowly allowed herself to get up and off the lower bunk of the bed she was on. The room she slept in could hold many people as was after all a barracks. After quickly stretching her arms and legs out, she checked the time. It read 8:30am. She then figured the S2 organ transfer could take place at about likely noon. That would give the other doctors and Maya more than enough time to get ready.

As for Maya, she happened to be sleeping like a baby on the top bunk. As much as the doctor didn't want to awaken her sleeping employee, work still had to be done to finish Rei's operation. Secretly she hoped the success of this operation may get her and possibly Maya, a pay raise from the Commander.

She began to lightly shake Maya, "Wake up sleepyhead."

Maya groaned as she began to stir, "Just a few more minutes please."

"Come on Maya, wake up," said Ritsuko shaking her a little harder.

Once her eyes opened, and the technician realized who was shaking her, she shot up faster than a jack-in-the-box, "I'm so sorry doctor! I didn't mean to sleep-in," replied a very frantic Maya.

Ritsuko was tempted to laugh, but she didn't and opted for smile, "Relax, you didn't sleep-in. It's only 8:30 in the morning." Once Maya was up and out of bed, the two went to the NERV cafeteria to get their wakeup coffees.

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Misato's Flat or Apartment or whatever the hell you want to call it

It looked like it was going to be a quiet day for Misato after all. She and Pen-Pen were sitting at the table drinking a morning beer. For some reason, beer seemed more enjoyable when she wasn't hung over morning. She then began reflecting on what was happening today, or specifically this morning. Zack had already left early for places unknown, but according to the Section 2 agents, he was heading in the direction of NERV HQ. He was probably going to see Elly… again. That alone would make some peace and quiet for Misato.

Ivana had gone off to a nearby gym. She seemed to be the lone one in the apartment. She didn't really have any friends or "allies" of the sort outside of NERV. Misato remembered looking into her profile, and found out about the chaos that had gone on in Russia while NERV was fighting the Angels. Judging from the experiences from there alone, that could cause enough problems for anyone. And Ivana's experiences there have molded her into what she is now; a person with a tough, cold exterior with what was likely a wounded interior under heavy guard from the outside. Misato let out a wry laugh at the very thought, as it reminded her very much of Asuka when she first came.

As for Shinji, he probably wanted to go see Rei again, to check on her, but Misato wanted him to lighten up a little bit, and not be so melancholy. And with a little persuasion on her part, a wad of bills and with a very good pleading look in Asuka's eyes convinced Shinji to go with Asuka to the mall.

"Peace and quiet for once huh Pen-Pen?" she asked the warm water penguin.

"WARK! WARK!"

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Maybe it was better for Shinji that he got out of the apartment and went downtown with Asuka instead of going to the NERV hospital. For some reason, even if he tried to, he couldn't shake out the joy in his heart and replace it with misery.

Now he was in some gigantic department store with Asuka, watching her try on new clothes. He heard that guys must be careful when in this situation. When a girl comes out after trying something on, she expects the guy's opinion as to what she tried on. The guy can either fake it and say it looks nice, or he can be honest about it. The catch is, is that if the girl notices you're faking it or doesn't like the fact that you don't like what she likes, there could be problems. And in Shinji's case, he had Asuka trying on new clothes. That alone is a nightmare, and joined with her temper, it could lead to some…unwanted complications.

"So what do you think Shinji?" Asuka had emerged from the fitting room with the item she was trying on. She was wearing a royal blue sleeveless dress with one of those slits in the dress along the side.

"Does it look good on me?"

Now was the moment of truth. Moments like these could mean the make or break of the relationship they had. He examined her thoroughly. The dress seemed to compliment her eyes rather well. And it seemed to go fine with her red hair too. The slit on the side made her look even more beautiful and perhaps more sexy than she already was. It hugged her body fairly nicely, showing off her curves, all the while not revealing much, which greatly surprised Shinji based on the dresses she had at home. He quickly put the thought aside, as he concluded that it might've been his influence on that part. From the looks of things, fate was on his side. He could make an honest decision that would likely save his skin from being incinerated by the fiery redhead.

Asuka wondered what was taking Shinji so long. He had been silent for several seconds. All she wanted from him was a simple statement of whether he liked it or not. But judging entirely from the look of his face and the fact that his eyes were wandering instead of looking at one particular place, as it observed how that dress looked on her from head to toe, she noticed and mentally smiled. Plus when she actually thought about it, she didn't think it looked that great on her. She was about to tell Shinji that it wasn't actually that great...

"I think it looks great on you," he finally stated. This took her completely by surprise. So much that she forgot to breathe for a moment and she could swear her heart skipped a beat. To make sure he was being honest, she examined him from head to toe. She had a good knack for catching liars, and if he was lying he'd regret it. He didn't stutter when he made his statement, he didn't have wringing hands, and he had made eye contact too. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't lying.

"Really?" she asked, in a somewhat hopeful manner.

"Of course it does," was the boy's reply, with the same sincerity in it too.

"Okay then, I'll be right back." Asuka went back into the fitting room to change back into her clothes. Within 2 minutes, she returned wearing her original red sweater and blue jeans.

"Since you like it so much," she said, "I'll get this one then." However, little did Shinji know that dress would cost him ¥30 000.

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NERV Hospital 10:30am

Ritsuko observed the new body floating in the tank. It had finally finished its accelerated growth, and was now a healthy 15 year old husk. So far everything had gone as planned. All Rei V needed now was the soul that lay in Rei IV. Then hopefully the operation would be a success, and no complications would follow. But like all operations, there is always a hitch of some sort. There was also a doctor in the other room doing some routine tests on Rei IV, trying to figure out how long she would live with being constantly hampered by Angel Rejection Syndrome.

"How long do you calculate she will live doctor?" Ritsuko inquired to the doctor sitting at a desk, as she entered.

The doctor looked up from his reports, "According to our reports, if nothing else happens she may likely live for somewhere between 48 and 72 hours more." He returned his vision down to the papers he had.

"But if she has another…"

"Doctor," a voice called out, revealing to be a female doctor running in from another room, "We have an emergency! Rei's body is having a violent seizure!" In response, Ritsuko and both doctors quickly rushed into the room where the comatose Rei IV was currently. The female doctor was right, Rei IV was stirring violently. Ritsuko then noticed Rei began to perspire at a very fast rate. It was another DNA expulsion! On top of that, the monitors were showing alarming results. According to the life support monitor, her heart rate had shot up sharply to about 230 beats a minute, and was breathing heavily but quickly.

"Get the sedatives in here!" Ritsuko frantically ordered, "We have to relax her body or she'll die from exhaustion!"

A nurse rushed in with needles on a tray. Ritsuko quickly selected the one she wanted, as the doctors pinned her body down. She immediately grabbed Rei's restrained arm and plunged the needle in, hoping the substance would help her body relax. Once the needle went in, its contents now running through the body, Rei IV continued to violently convulse for about another fifteen seconds, before she finally came to a stop. But was it over?

"What's the status of her vitals?" asked Ritsuko.

The female doctor made a check, "Heart rate is moving back to normal. Blood pressure is also returning to normal too. Breathing is also returning to normal too." The doctor seemed pleased with the results she had just read off. From the looks of things, Rei IV would be able to survive just a bit longer. The female doctor then picked up a cloth and began to wipe the perspiration off Rei.

Everyone took a moment just to look at Rei. When she was first admitted, she was already rather pale, due to her albino features, and her form was already rather frail. However now, it was reduced to almost nothing but a sack of bones. Due to the lack of proper nutrition, her body had been deprived of many things. Her thighs were now about the same width as her knees, her ribcage could be seen, and in fact the majority of her joints could be distinguished now. Her skin was shock white, due to unknown causes, most likely from the battle being waged within her. And even now, in her coma, her face always has a pained expression, despite all the sedatives intended to dull the pain.

The male doctor spoke again after some time, "As I was saying, if she were to have another DNA expulsion like we saw, I couldn't give her more than 24 hours to live. Her body won't be able to maintain itself for very long."

"I see," said Ritsuko, "Well Maya and I will do the S2 organ transfer at noon today, so there shouldn't be any problems then. And that is in less than 90 minutes."

The female snapped up suddenly, "Doctor! There's a problem! Her heart rate is dropping below the acceptable levels. She will have a heart failure at this rate, vitals are dropping as well!"

"What?" Ritsuko yelled out. She looked at the readings on the monitors. It was too bad to be true. Rei's heart rate was dropping sharply. There were a few more beeps… then a high pitched sound was emitting from the life support system.

"Ikari-kun……"

Every single doctor present was in shock. The doctors in the room all had to grasp the reality lying on the bed in front of them. Rei Ayanami, the First Child, the fourth holder of the soul of Lillith, had died. They on their watch, were forced to watch her die, as her body finally gave up from the pain and the stress, only to hear her utter the name of the only person that was truly kind to her during the Angel War.

"Oh my god," a doctor whispered in sorrow. A couple of the female doctors left the room in search from some open air. Even the most experienced of doctors, can never get over the pain of death.

Ritsuko let out a sigh, and walked up to the body. She pushed a few stray strands from her still form and smiled weakly. To think, that she had hated this girl, and on a few occasions almost killed the 2nd. And now, here she was, trying to save the girl, and at the same time feel sorry for the fact she had suffered so much during this time, and especially now, since she had to fight that painful battle.

**(A/N: Hey, Shran here, that little concept is from the manga)**

She then went over to the phone. She knew that since Rei IV had died, now the only way to preserve her was to see if they could bring Rei V to life. After dialing a number into the phone, someone answered on the other side.

"Hello?" It was Makoto.

"Makoto! It's Ritsuko! Put Maya on the phone!" ordered the blonde doctor. Her command was followed without a hitch. And almost instantly Maya was put on the phone.

"Yes doctor?"

"Change of plans Maya. We're doing the soul transfer now. Get down here as soon as you can!"

"Yes Doctor," said Maya, "I'm on my way down." And with that she hung up.

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Misato's Flat – Sounds funny, should I stick with flat, or should I go back to apartment?

So far, so good for Misato. She figured she could relax while the others were out right now. And that's what she was doing. After throwing all the sheets Zack was using into the laundry, putting an air freshener in the room, beer in hand, she had laid out on the couch to watch some much desired TV.

Suddenly, she had this urge to turn on a movie. A certain kind of movie. A kind of movie no fourteen or fifteen-year-old kid should be watching. But with the parental code she had placed on the TV, Zack wouldn't be able to watch any of the adult movies on her TV.

"Okay. The password is 8745," she said aloud. To her absolute shock, the TV rejected her password.

"What? But I entered it correctly!" She frantically punched the code in again. Only to have it rejected again.

"Urgh!" She slammed her hands down in frustration. However, Misato unknowingly stuck her hand into the inside of the couch. Suddenly, she realized what she did and felt a little embarrassed for doing that. The chain of events was far from finished as another link was added. She felt a piece of paper inside the couch. So she obviously pulled it out. It was a small piece of paper, and on it were the numbers 8745. This made her gasp with shock. This meant definitely that someone in the house knew the code. And her woman's intuition was pointing DIRECTLY at one Zack Harper. Her intuition also told her that the one person who could have given him the code was none other than one Ryouji Kaji! She felt like mentally kicking herself for telling Kaji the code now. But that idea he had seemed so interesting…

Right as Misato was about to get up to call one of those two to give them a piece of her mind, the phone rang. She was fuming mad by the time she got to the phone, but tried her best to conceal her rage with a cherry façade.

"Hello."

"Misato? It's Ritsuko."

"What is it Rits?" asked Misato concernedly, "You don't sound like yourself."

Ritsuko paused for a moment before speaking, "Misato, we have some very bad news over here."

"What happened Ritsuko? Did something happen to Rei?"

Another pause before her best friend began to speak again, "Unfortunately something did happen. Rei IV passed away fifteen minutes ago." Misato gasped in shock, silence fixated between the two of them.

After a moment of silence, Ritsuko continued, "So we've decided to act now, and we're commencing the S2 transplant. Do you wish to come by?"

"You bet I will!" Misato nearly bellowed, "I'm coming down now!" She hung up the phone, got her jacket on, and darted out the door.

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NERV Hospital – Will the bell finally toll for Rei?

"Drain that tank," ordered Ritsuko, "And then place Rei V's body on that bio bed, and wheel in the fourth's body in here now."

"Yes ma'am." A group of doctors went to get the deceased body from the IC room, while another group began to drain the tank of the special LCL.

While she was getting her latex gloves on, Maya had a question, "Doctor, is there anything special that needs to be done this time around?"

"No not this time," the doctor assured, "It will be the same as the fourth Rei we worked on. The fifth will be the last time we do this, as there will not be a sixth time once this is done." As they were talking, the two groups of doctors had finished their tasks. The tank was drained and Rei V's body was placed on the bio bed, as the bed that had Rei IV's body was wheeled in. As the bed was wheeled in, the doctors assigned to Rei V's body began attaching wires from the bio bed to her head, while others prepped the MAGI and the computer on the bed that would digitally upload Rei's memories and thoughts. The body was also hooked up to a life support system just in case something went wrong during the process. Once they had finished their tasks, the doctors took a moment to look at the fruits of their labor.

Right there before them, was Rei V's body. A healthy, naked 15 year old girl, with the palest of skin, azure hair, frail body, and crimson eyes. Many of the doctors felt uncomfortable around the girl's presence, not because she was naked, nor the fact that she was different, but of her eyes. Instead of the bright, yet pained crimson that was seen in many of her pictures, she now had a dull, dead, lifeless appearance. Her eyes showed no light, nor life. No signs of a person ever existing in the body. The doctors returned outside to watch the procedure take place, some of them feeling various levels of anxiety and apprehension, as the two began work.

"Ready Maya?" asked Ritsuko, who held a sharp scalpel in her right hand, and had covered her nose and mouth with a mask.

"I'm ready Doctor," said Maya who imitated her superior's actions.

And so began the final part of the operation. Using the scalpel, Ritsuko began to perform a Caesarean section Rei IV's body. Although Maya had been briefed on what the procedure entailed, it was not a sight she could get used to. Blood began to leak out from within as the doctor continued to make the incision.

Once it was finished, they could see all her internal works, and how much her organs had broken down due to the Angel Rejection Syndrome. The body's organs were either literally falling apart, or were degrading horrendously. Maya couldn't help but cringe slightly at the sight before her. But there it was, the S2 organ, where her reproductive organs should have existed.

"I can't believe it," the doctor commented.

"What is it?"

"The S2 organ, it didn't seem to be affected from ARS."

"That's probably because of its regenerative abilities doctor."

"That's probably it…and because it must've been a powerful attack, the organ could only sustain itself, and couldn't support the rest."

"Doctor, we should continue before the organ loses power."

"You're right, cut the valves Maya," commanded the blonde doctor. "And be very careful so as not to disturb the soul. You're using a miniature progressive knife." Maya spoke not a word, and began to carefully snip away the valves that kept the S2 in place with a set of sanitized progressive scissors. Once the valves were cut away from the organ, Maya proceeded to pick up the red object which was covered and dripping blood on the floor, but showed signs of regeneration already..

"Alright Doctor. Let's proceed with the next step."

"Wow, you're getting used to this after all," she commented. She did indeed smile, but it couldn't be seen because of the mask. Under her watch, Maya had greatly increased her self-esteem and confidence since she took the lieutenant under her wing to be her apprentice. Picking up a fresh scalpel, Ritsuko began to perform the same incision in Rei V, however this time just large enough to fit the S2 in. Unfortunately, like in any operation, blood leaked out of this one too.

Just as the chromosomes had planned, the valves that had been used for the S2 were there, just that they had to be snipped into four valves now. The blonde smiled again at her success. She held out her hand as Maya passed a fresh the progressive scissors.

She snipped the two valves into four, and stepped back, "Now Maya, place it in, and prepare the injections."

"Yes ma'am." Slowly Maya placed the S2 organ inside Rei V, and then proceeded to retrieve a series of needles and a special vile. Replacing the blood covered gloves with new ones, and then what was needed, she returned to Ritsuko with the needed items, handing her the organ first.

"Good, place the tray by her feet. Now while I simulate the S2 to bond with the valves, I need you to get that data ready to upload Rei's memories and thoughts into her mind." As always, Maya obeyed and uploaded the data from the MAGI onto the computer that would transfer Rei's memories back into her mind.

"When ready doctor," Maya reported as Ritsuko trimmed the valves that would hold the S2 until they were just the right length.

"Just give me a moment… there! Now I just need to just need to inject the stimulants, and the organ's regenerative properties should kick in," she now looked up at Maya, "Okay Maya, go right ahead. Upload now."

Maya did so, and the computer began to hum from the commands Maya inputted in to the machine, as it finally began the uploading process. Ritsuko then carefully navigated the needles to the healing wounds of the organ, and injected the fluids. Immediately it glowed brightly as it began to pulse. The process would take a few minutes, giving Maya a chance to breathe for a bit or so.

"So Doctor, how is the regenerating coming along?"

"Fabulous," replied Ritsuko who was observing the organ bonding with the final valve, "I am surprised that the organ regenerated that fast." Maya saw her saw her note something on her clipboard, as she observed the bonding between the organ and the four valves. She then turned towards the observation window and gave a thumbs up.

By that time, Misato had arrived just to see Ritsuko insert the S2 organ. Inside the observation room, it broke into a wild applause, as the doctors cheered for the success of the operation, while Misato was jumping up and down, crying hysterically. Ritsuko simply laughed and turned to face Maya.

"There, now we're done that step. The soul is finally in place. Give it a few hours or so, and it will be working in tune with the body. And the immune suppressants are working well too. No sign of rejection anywhere." Ritsuko then down her clipboard, and retrieved the needed supplies, and returned the body, and began stitching the hole she had cut open earlier.

"Oh Maya, get me some of that anti-scar cream," Maya seemed confused for a moment, so the doctor verified, "You know, the stuff we used so Asuka didn't have a huge scar on her arm from the EVA Series."

"Oh right." Maya tried to hide the embarrassment on her face as she went to retrieve the anti-scar cream. Simply put, it was so Rei V didn't have a scar on her lower abdomen because of Ritsuko's scalpel when she woke up; if she wakes up. Once she returned with the cream, Ritsuko had quickly finished stitching up the hole. Ritsuko began to apply the cream along the stitches. The cream also did double as a disinfectant.

The phone then rang. So Maya went to answer the phone since her hands were not covered in blood.

"Hello? Commander? Yes sir, right away sir."

"Doctor, it's for you."

"Hello? Yes sir, she seems to be fine. We have just completed the operation, her vitals are stable. Alright sir…Really sir…Thank you sir, thank you."

"What did the Commander want?"

"We just got a raise along with a big fat bonus."

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Misato's Flat – I'm sticking with flat for the moment

Shinji and Asuka had finally made it back home. Shinji wondered how other guys could stand shopping for girls. If he didn't remind Asuka of how much money they actually had, she may as well have bought the entire store while she had the chance.

"Hey look," Asuka said suddenly, "Misato cleared the sheets off the couch and put an air freshener in the room. It's safe to sit here again rather than sit in Casanova's filth." She then turned on the TV and turned to a channel.

"Come sit down with me."

"Be there in a second. Just making milkshakes with the new blender we got," replied Shinji from the kitchen, "You want chocolate, banana, or strawberry?"

"Banana."

Within a few minutes Shinji returned with 2 large glasses with the banana milkshakes. And they sat down and watched the movie that was playing on the TV. It was a comedy movie about these two guys who were trying to kill off this corporate guy but their schemes always ended up in disaster.

"I don't know why, but I keep getting the feeling I know what's going to happen next," Asuka muttered 45 minutes into the movie, "I'm bored."

"So what do you want to do now?" asked Shinji.

"Well let's see…" Asuka went into deep thought, "Why don't you kiss me?"

"Huh?" Shinji was confused. "But I always kiss you."

Asuka gave him one of those looks that said 'Are you stupid?' "Don't you mean I always kiss you? Why don't you kiss me for once?"

"But… but…"

"Look. If you're really that scared," she placed her hands behind her back and closes her eyes, "I promise I won't stop you, plug your nose, or sack you."

DA DA DUM

Shinji looked at Asuka. Indeed she had her hands behind her back, and closed her eyes. So he moved slowly toward her.

DA DA DUM

They were now within inches of each other. Asuka hadn't moved at all. Shinji figured if Asuka let him get this close, he could go further. He wrapped his arms around her body, and crushed their lips together. Asuka had to admit on her part that she was surprised Shinji could kiss with such ferocity. Sure she let him kiss her, but she wasn't about to let him dominate her. She brought her hands out from behind her back, and wrapped them around his neck.

As they continued to kiss, they let their tongues wander about, tasting what the other had to offer. The milkshakes they had earlier were making their kiss taste all the better. It felt like it could last forever, but the human body can only go without oxygen for so long, that they had to break it off. Once they did, they were both breathing heavily, their faces flushed red.

"Wow," said Asuka panting to catch her breath, "See what you can do… if you really try?"

"Yeah… can we do that again?" asked Shinji.

"Please."

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NERV Hospital

"So how long should it be before the data upload is finished?" asked a highly giddy Misato. The operation was long finished now, and Rei V was still in the operating room. The results of the surgery were very promising. The S2 was integrating with Rei's body very well, and she was breathing on her own too. Also her bodily functions were working on their own without the life support system, and she has been it for the last hour or so.

"Should be any minute now," replied Ritsuko, as she looked at her watch, "Then we'll try to wake her up."

Misato had a question though, "Would cutting her open leave a scar of some kind though?"

Ritsuko chuckled for a moment, as Misato looked at her curiously, "Haven't you wondered why Asuka didn't have scars from being thrashed by SEELE's EVA Series? We developed a cream that can pretty much make scars disappear as if there was nothing there. So Rei here won't have any scars after the operation."

"I see," Misato replied thoughtfully, as she always did wonder where the eye scars went, "So Rei also won't be a bluenette much longer either. She'll be a brunette after a while."

"That's correct," answered Maya, "The process will kick in, in about two weeks, the process itself will last for another two weeks. You'll be able to notice the changes slowly too," she then looked at the computer, "Oh the data has been completely uploaded."

Once she heard that, Ritsuko and Maya had removed the machine that was attached to Rei's head. Ritsuko took this chance to speak.

"Maya, pass the stimulant. I'm going to attempt to wake her up now."

'This is it,' thought Misato. 'Will this work? Or will she stay comatose forever?'

Maya passed the syringe over to Ritsuko. Ritsuko lowered the cover over Rei enough to expose her left arm. She slowly stuck the needle into Rei's arm, and pumped in the substance, then removed the needle, and placed a small band-aid over the needle puncture.

Rei slowly began to stir in response to the substance pumped into her. And to everyone's joy, her eyelids began to lift, revealing lavender eyes.

A/N: She's alive! ALIVE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you think I would really kill Rei? As much as I think she shouldn't be paired with Shinji, she doesn't have to die or anything like that. To all Rei fans, I apologize for making her suffer like she did. Soon in upcoming chapters, you'll see a new Rei.

A/O/N: And a big thanks to all who helped take down my "imitator". That… eyesore has been wiped off He sure is damn lucky he didn't copy one of my preread chapters, says Marine Brother Shran.

Until 53, be cool!


	53. A Talk

A/N: Here we are again! Back with another chapter! Well Rei is officially alive! Some of you took notice to her lavender eyes. That's the start of the changes. Between now and the next few chapters, expect some changes to happen with Rei. Oh yeah, and prepare for some more questionable content in this chapter as well. Don't worry; the lines will be drawn soon. Now on with it!

"How do you feel Rei?" asked Ritsuko. "Do you feel any pain?"

"No I do not," replied the bluenette lying on the bed. She then suddenly looked like she was under a bit of stress.

Ritsuko jumped for a second. "Is something wrong?"

"I cannot move my arms or legs," answered Rei.

"Oh that is to be expected," the doctor said now relaxing. "You've never used this body before Rei. The body you had a few days ago has died. So we made you another body." Rei looked somewhat confused. So Ritsuko decided to replay the events from when Rei was rushed to the hospital originally up to now.

"So the portions of my body that make me an Angel will disappear then."

"Not entirely," said Maya. "You still have Angel DNA, we just altered it so it would change into human DNA instead, preventing the chance of Angel Rejection Syndrome from ever returning again.

"But you will lose the ability to project your AT Field as a barrier," Ritsuko interjected. "It was one of the things we had to sacrifice to save you. And your outer appearance will change as well, such as your skin will darken a bit so won't be as pale as it used to be. And your blue hair will change to brown hair. Your eyes will change as well, like now they're lavender instead of crimson."

Rei had another question. "When may I return to Misato's residence?"

Ritsuko frowned at the girl on the bed. "Sorry Rei, but I estimate you won't be able to return for about a week. We need to do more tests on you just to make sure your body is functioning like it should. But if everything goes as planned, you will make a full recovery minus your Angel abilities."

"I see. I wish to rest if that is not a problem."

"Go ahead," said Maya. "Rest will be good for you."

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NERV Lounge

"So what was it that you wished to talk about Misato?" asked Ritsuko as the two sat down over cups of coffee. "Is it those kids again?"

"Shinji and Asuka again to be exact," said Misato.

Ritsuko spoke after sipping her coffee. "I don't see what the problem is. I thought things between them couldn't get any better than they ever could. Asuka has become more open and is much nicer than usual. Shinji has opened himself and he doesn't have that 'Hedgehog's Dilemma' that he used to have. What is the problem then?"

"It's that things are TOO good for their own good." Misato paused a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing. "Do you remember when you first came to my apartment to check on Rei?"

"Yes. Does this have something to do with the yelling I heard while I was examining Rei?"

"Absolutely. Well Zack, Ivana, and I were teasing Asuka, and that's what set her off."

Ritsuko gave her a plain stare. "You had that coming."

Misato cut in. "Let me finish. The reason I'm worried is that we were teasing Asuka about what she and Shinji were doing in their room. Asuka didn't know until we brought it to her attention that she had left her pajama shirt half unbuttoned for all of us to see."

"So you suspect they were getting a little kinky huh?" Ritsuko was trying hard not to laugh. "As long as they didn't go too far, which I believe did not happen. A pregnant pilot is the last thing we need in this Black Angel crisis." She took another sip of her coffee. "But I am not completely surprised though. When two people are in a relationship such as the one, they may tend to let things escalate, which is the case we have here. They're also young and are reaching adolescence, so their hormones are raging like crazy. So to relieve their hormones, they escalate their relationship to appease those hormones. In this case, it was Shinji feeling up Asuka."

"So what do I do?" asked Misato.

"You have two options," said Ritsuko. "You can give them 'the talk'. As much as you are going to be intruding on their relationship, you have to set the boundaries as to what they can and can't do. As much as they may protest, I'm sure they will listen to you. And if they disobey you, there will be consequences for them."

"I see." Misato thought for a moment as to how to talk to those two. It would likely best come at a time when the three of them were alone. "And what's the second option?"

"Tell Shinji to wear protection," answered Ritsuko with a straight face.

"NO WAY!"

"Well at least you plan to manage them better than you managed yourself." She tilted her head at Misato. "Do you have Kaji use protection?" she asked teasingly.

"THAT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

Ritsuko had a heartfelt laugh. "Misato. If you can't control yourself, how will you control two horny kids?"

"I have my ways." Misato started to get up. Her typical smile came back. "Well thanks for the advice Rits."

"I'm always happy to help." The blonde looked at the time. "Oh it's time for Elly to make lunch now. I'll make sure to have her make some soup for Rei. Oh, just so you know, Zack is here as well. I think you know why he's here as well."

"Good. I need to have a talk with him as well as to what is appropriate to watch on TV."

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Misato's Flat – Do not disturb

"Wow," muttered Asuka.

"I second that," muttered Shinji right back.

Asuka and Shinji were still on the couch from earlier. They had spent the last hour or so simply enjoying each others kisses. Their faces were flushed from the kisses that lasted so long that they were panting when they broke off. Asuka at the moment was lying on top of him, pinning him to the couch.

Asuka kissed him again. "I don't know why, but I feel like I could kiss you all day long."

"The feeling is mutual," said Shinji. He ran his hands along her back, causing her to coo quietly in response to his soft caress.

Asuka then sat back up on the couch, freeing Shinji for the moment. "Hey I got an idea!" she suddenly said.

"What would that be?" asked Shinji who was finally able to sit up after being pinned down for so long. Not that he objected to kissing Asuka, it just felt good to be able to sit up again.

"Do you want another feel?" she asked him curiously with a slightly naughty look on her face.

"Uhh Asuka. What if we get in trouble again? I don't think Misato would be pleased if we were fooling around."

She lay back on the couch. "Oh come on Shinji! I know you want to! It'll be just like last time, only we'll fool around as much as we want. We won't go all the way of course if you're wondering."

"I know that but…" Shinji started to say.

"But we're young and in love!" declared Asuka. "And besides," she said softening her voice. "You're hands were so soft that one night. Please do it again," she pleaded with him in an attempt to seduce him.

The softness of her voice and the sad puppy dog eyes pretty much overwhelmed Shinji. He towered over her as she lay on the couch, awaiting his touch. And slowly, but surely, his hands crept under her yellow sweater.

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Ivana was on her way home. She felt well refreshed after her workout at the gym. Overall, her time there was well used. She was still in excellent shape, and managed to send a few guys to the hospital. These stupid guys saw how strong she was and challenged her to a bench pressing challenge. So of course she could not turn down a challenge. One of them walked away with a concussion from the bar hitting his head from trying to bench press 250 lbs. The other guy broke his wrist when the bar crushed his arm at 240lbs. And she walked out being able to bench press 265lbs, more than proving her superiority. One woman who worked out there told Ivana that she should be the ideal woman for how strong women should be to deal with men these days.

After showering and refreshing, she made her way back to Misato's flat, feeling that her day off school was well used. She figured she could make some lunch when she got home. At that moment though, she got a craving. A craving for one of her favourite dishes in Russia, called borscht. After a quick recall of the flat's inventory of ingredients, borscht it was. She was approaching the door, feeling hungrier by the second.

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"Oh yes, don't stop! Please don't stop!"

Yes, Shinji was fondling her breasts again. And she loved every second of it. The smooth feel of his hands, the tickle sensation, it was overwhelming her. His continued to move his hands all over her upper chest. He would kiss her quickly every now and then as his hands continued to move underneath her shirt.

Suddenly the door bell rang, which brought the two lovers out of their moment of bliss. "Uh Asuka, I think we should go see who is at the door."

"No. Don't leave. They'll go away." She pulled him back and began to kiss him again. "Don't stop. I love your touch." And with that, Shinji continued to tend to Asuka as the doorbell rang once more.

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Ivana figured someone would be home. She had rung the doorbell twice and nobody had answered. "Oh well, I guess I don't have my borscht with anyone." She allowed herself a smile as she opened the door.

However, she quickly realized that she was not as alone as she thought. She could hear voices coming from inside the flat. Sounded like someone was moaning. Since the moans seemed somewhat foreign to her ears, she figured it was better safe than sorry to have her weapon ready. Pulling out her gun from a strap underneath her skirt, she slowly advanced into the apartment.

The moans were getting louder as she moved inwards. Right then, she knew where the sounds were coming from: Zack's couch. Was Zack doing it with…? Elly? She had to know for sure. And she went right into the room to find… Shinji and Asuka?

It seemed like time had just frozen in that room there. Shinji had his hands under Asuka's sweater, and likely on her breasts. Asuka had her legs wrapped around Shinji's midsection, and looked like she was having the time of her life until Ivana had shown up.

Time sped up again. "Uhh, hey Ivana," said Shinji his face completely flushed. "Didn't expect to see you back so soon."

"Y-yeah, like he said," said Asuka who was equally embarrassed and now getting out from under Shinji.

"Get a room," retorted Ivana as she tucked her firearm away and walked into the kitchen. "Do you two want lunch?"

"Lunch? What are you making?" asked Asuka.

"Just a little something I used to eat in Russia," answered Ivana. "If you two still insist on fooling around, get a room and keep it down."

"We weren't doing anything!" declared Asuka.

"Whatever," sighed Ivana as she got started on making lunch.

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Misato's Car

"Zack, your punishment will be no TV for a week! That will teach you not to change the parental code!" roared Misato as the two drove home.

"Hey I can explain!" Zack tried to say.

"Save it," said an angry Misato. "You will learn not to watch shows that are inappropriate for you! You can also cook for a week as well!" She shot him a death glare. "And if I find out you were watching adult movies again, I will make Commander Ikari look like a cute little kitten in comparison to how scary I am! Do I make myself clear?"

"Uh Misato," started Zack. "You should keep your eyes on the road."

"Don't change the subject!"

"No seriously…"

"ZACK!"

"Look out!"

Misato finally looked ahead, but by that time it was almost too late. She ran the red light at the intersection, and nearly T-boned a car that was passing through.

"Whew. That was too close for comfort," said Misato breathing a sigh of relief. "Now as I was saying…"

"Uh, Misato check the mirror…"

"What?" she asked. But then she did look in the mirror. "Oh shit," she muttered at the red and blue lights she saw in that mirror.

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NERV Hospital

Elly whistled to herself as she wheeled the cart down the hallway of the hospital. On the cart was one of those plates with the domes on them to keep the heat in the food. Since she found out Rei was on her way to making a full recovery, it definitely lightened up the mood in the facility. And she was ordered by Dr. Akagi to deliver lunch to the bluenette in the hospital room.

"Well I'm sure Rei will enjoy this special make of tomato soup I whipped up," she said aloud. "Not only does it have the wonderful taste of tomato soup, it's loaded with all sorts of nutrients that will make her big and strong again!"

She wheeled down until she found Rei's room. Inside she saw the albino girl lying almost motionless on the bed save for the rhythmic breathing. And so, she entered Rei's room. "Hiya Rei," she called out.

"Hello Pilot Simpson," replied Rei in the usual monotone voice.

"No need to worry about formalities," said Elly with a smile. "Plain Elly is just fine. By the way, I brought your lunch. Can you sit up?"

"No I cannot unfortunately," answered Rei. "Dr Akagi said I would not be able to fully move for about a week. And that my physical appearance would change with time as well."

"That's okay then. But now that I think about it, your eyes have changed colour, so I guess that's a start." Elly flipped a switch on the side of the bed. Half the bed began to fold upwards, making Rei's body sit up along with it. "Since you can't move, I'm gonna have to spoon feed you then. You okay with that?"

"That is fine."

"Good," said Elly now taking the lid off the covering that had a bowl of tomato soup. She took a spoonful of it and held it towards Rei's mouth.

"Now open wide."

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Misato's flat

"Wow, this is good Ivana."

"I second that."

"Well I'm glad you two like it so much," said Ivana. The three of them had completely finished off the borscht Ivana had made for lunch.

"Did you have this all the time in Russia?" Shinji asked.

"From time to time I would," was the Russian's answer.

"Shinji had another question. "What was it like growing up in Russia anyway?"

As Ivana was walking away, she suddenly froze at the last question. And then answered, "Nothing you need to know about."

"Huh?" Now Asuka was confused. "What kind of an answer was that?"

Now Ivana turned around and gave the two a smile. "Sorry about that. There just isn't much to tell about Russia other than how many months of the year it snows. This is usually about six months of the year." She then held the remote in her hands. "Anyone up for some television? It isn't often we get to use the couch because of that pervert."

'Ivana's really trying to deflect her personal life in Russia,' thought Shinji to himself. 'Was it really that bad there, despite all the snow?' He then figured sleeping dogs should lie. "Okay what do you want to watch?"

"Let's see," said Ivana as she flicked through the TV Guide…

Just then though, Misato and Zack came through the front door.

"If it wasn't for me Misato, you would have gotten a ticket for running a red light and possibly charged for almost T-boning that car as well. You're lucky I convinced that cop otherwise," said Zack in that fragment of their conversation. "Maybe being a cop myself has its upbeats after all because I know how they think."

"Alright fine," replied Misato who looked defeated. "You get your TV back."

"Alright!" shouted Zack. "Now to watch the hockey game!" he said quickly snatching the remote from Ivana and tuning something in. He tuned in to an English channel, as the other occupants minus Ivana knew what the TV was saying.

"Typical Canadians," muttered Ivana. "The only thing they really know is how to play hockey."

"Go ahead and watch the game you two," said Misato. She then looked at Shinji and Asuka. "As for you two, we're gonna go for a stroll. So let's go."

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Tim Horton's

Misato took the two lovebirds to the Tim Horton's that Zack had found when he first came to Tokyo-3. After ordering each an iced cappuccino, Misato, Shinji, and Asuka sat down at a table.

"So why did you bring us out here anyway?" asked Asuka who was slightly angry. "You drove around for 20 minutes looking for this place, not saying a word, and then ordering for us too when we got here!"

"Be quiet. I'm doing the talking here!" ordered Misato as she sipped her frozen treat. "I wanted to talk to you two about your relationship." This made the two blush. "And be thankful I brought you two out here so we were out of Casanova's earshot."

"What about our relationship?" Asuka started to say.

"First, I just wish to say that I'm very happy for you two and that you have found love with each other," Misato began. "However there are things you need to know. Things about yourselves, your bodies, and your environment, and how they can all affect you."

Asuka and Shinji simultaneously gulped. This was the dreaded talk all teenagers would dread to hear. But Misato was going to deliver this one way or another.

"When you reach your age, you have likely experienced things you wouldn't expect to experience. Like an obsessed attraction towards each other. That is completely normal for your age and maturity. Your bodies begin to develop more as you mature as well. But what you do with your bodies will be what truly determines how mature you are." She paused to take another sip. You kids following along so far?"

"Yes ma'am," they both said in unison.

"Good. And also, it is completely normal to want to be in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex. Your relationship is also normal. Very normal knowing the circumstances you two are in with NERV and such. Also, I understand that you wish to hold each other in your arms, hug and kiss and all that."

The two now blushed at the last sentence. Misato wanted to stop, but she had to tell them now before it got off topic.

"And with the age you two are at, the hormones in your bodies are developing at a rapid pace till you two fully mature. With such hormones, and combining that with the relationship you two have, you may be tempted to do certain things to please your hormones. Like **fooling around** with each other, or even tempted to take things beyond that."

The fooling around comment only made the pair blush even further. Misato continued on.

"Of course, I hope you know when I mean beyond I mean having sex. Any possible desire at your age to have sex with each other is also normal for your age. But, the onus will be on you two to refrain from doing such a thing. I for one, forbid you two to be having any kind of sex at anytime as long as you are working for NERV, or at least until you two are eighteen years of age."

Asuka had enough. "You fucking hypocrite! What position are you in to tell us what we can and can't do? You've probably done it with Kaji in more ways than what's imaginable!" There was definitely a look in her eyes that told Misato she was challenging her.

"Asuka, did I say you could talk?" Judging by the silence coming from Asuka, the redhead knew she had stepped out of line and had quickly backed down. "I am your legal guardian, and what I say goes in my apartment! It's only because of my leniency that you two sleep together. And I trust the both of you that you will NOT be having sex!" She then glared at them. "Do you know what could possibly happen should you two be having sex?"

Shinji was silent. But Asuka finally spoke up. "I c-c-could g-get p-pregnant?"

Misato kept the same face. "That's only part of it Asuka. If you were to get pregnant, you would only be able to pilot your EVA approximately three months into a pregnancy. Then you would be placed on maternity leave until a few months after the baby is born. That means we are without a pilot because of foolish sexual desires. And that's not all. You also run the risk of contracting an STD also known as a sexually transmitted disease. Also not a good thing. I'm counting on you two to keep your sexual desires, whatever they may be, under control. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am," they both replied.

"Good," said Misato, now smiling. "Let's finish off these iced cappuccinos before they melt. Oh and by the way, I found out Rei's operation was a success, and she's going to make a full recovery."

"Really?" asked Shinji.

"Yup," answered Misato with a wink. "She'll be released from the hospital within a week."

"That's fine I guess," said Asuka who was slightly relieved the topic was drifting away from Misato's sex talk. "So anyway…"

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Somewhere else

A hooded man watches the event unfold before his eyes. A young girl has been strapped to a device by her arms and legs, and a cuff around her midsection. There was another person operating what looked like the operating controls were.

"Awaiting your orders sir," the attendant said.

"Take your time," replied the hooded man. "We are in no rush at all. You may proceed when ready."

The attendant pulled a lever. Suddenly, the girl on the bed screamed in pain as what looked like several volts of electricity coursed through her body.

"You see now?" asked the man. "Because of your little defiance, I decided to make a small adjustment to your torture schedule. Perhaps when you are better behaved, I'll readjust your torture sessions back to how they used to be."

The girl received more electric shocks. The hooded man and his attendant were enjoying the sight before them. But suddenly, the man's cellphone began to ring. So he left the attendant with the girl he was torturing to answer the phone. Once he was outside, he answered. "Yes." He listens to the speaker on the other end of the line. "Very well. You have been patient like I asked you to." Another pause while the hooded man listens. Alright. Tell him to bring forth Nebuchadnezzar at the crack of dawn tomorrow."


	54. Prelude to Armageddon

A/N: Well, if there is one thing I have learned is that there are those who will try to help you, and those who want to hinder you. Know your friends, and know your foes. Anyways, here we are! Back again once more! Chapter 54 is here. Time to get rock!

**A/N: Hey guys, Shran here, just a quick warning, there is a bit of physics terminology, so watch out for it. And don't ask J.G. what it means because he won't have a clue.**

It was a quiet night indeed. It had been three days since Rei was set to make her full recovery. She was slowly being able to move her limbs. She could move her hands and feet, but not her arms and legs and couldn't stand up. The kids were back in school, and it seemed like things were getting back to normal. Well at least whatever Misato Katsuragi's ideals as to what normal was anyway. Last she checked on the kids, they were outside on the roof checking out one of Zack's newest toys. Apparently, Zack had recently acquired or he already had a telescope. And that was about fifteen minutes ago. That was just fine with Misato, as she could relax and enjoy her beer in peace and quiet.

As she drank her fourth beer, she contemplated over the kids' sync tests that they had yesterday. A typical boring test. No major changes to anyone's scores. Shinji and Asuka had no changes in their scores. Zack and Ivana had no changes either. Toji's score went down a few points. Elly's score went up by a few points too.

The only real difference had to have been Rei in terms of sync scores. Ritsuko wanted to know how the operation had any effects on Rei when it came to EVA. As expected, her score in particular had dropped sharply. Rei's sync was usually about 75, but her latest score was 28. Heck the Eva could barely start up. Ritsuko's reason for such a low score was since that Rei could not move neither her body nor the Eva was because her mind hadn't completely registered with her body, and thus a low score was the case.

Relaxing back into the chair, she took another sip of her can of Yebisu.

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Rooftop

It had been fifteen minutes since Zack had brought the others up here to check out the telescope. Strangely enough, tonight was supposed to be so cloudy that unless there were any lights, Tokyo-3 would be completely engulfed in darkness. However Zack, Ivana, Shinji, and Asuka were taking turns checking out the telescope and looking out into space. Right now, Zack was trying to show Shinji where the planet Mars was.

"Turn it just a bit to the left there Shinji," said Zack. "Can you see it now?"

"Yeah, I can see it," was the meek boy's answer. "Wow, so that's Mars. Unbelievable. When you look at it from here, it's strange that it's so far away. It doesn't feel that far away at all."

Zack then looked at Asuka, "Do you want to take a look at Mars? I figured that's your favourite planet." When he saw the nod from Shinji's girlfriend, he motioned to Shinji, "Why don't you let Asuka have a turn now?"

Shinji didn't seem to mind that at all, "Okay sure. I'm done looking anyway."

"Okay, just gotta make a small adjustment though." Once he made the seemingly unapparent adjustment, he called to Asuka, "Your turn." Asuka went up to the telescope, and began to take a look through the eyepiece.

After a few seconds, she was confused, "Hey! I can't see anything!"

"You gotta look a little harder," said Zack who was sporting a large grin on his face. He looked at Ivana, who was far, far away from amused.

"What in the hell are you talking about Casanova?" yelled Asuka, "I still can't see anything!"

Zack came over to check out the telescope, his grin widening every second, "Well Asuka, it helps if you take the cover off the scope," he replied taking the cap off the telescope. "I can't believe you fell for that!" said the Sixth Child who immediately burst out laughing. Asuka stood up straight, fuming. She was really angry. She tried to throw a punch at him in a blind fury, but he easily sidestepped the anger driven punch. She tried to punch him a few more times, but he easily dodged them too.

She quickly resigned to just yelling at him, "CASANOVA! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" she screamed and then stormed inside.

"Temper, temper," muttered Zack, "I think she could use anger management."

Now Ivana was taking a look through the 'uncovered' telescope, "That's strange," she said, "I have a good grasp of what stars are in the sky, but I have never recalled that star being there before."

"What do you mean?" asked Shinji.

Ivana motioned him to come over, "Look at the Big Dipper constellation. You'll see a star in the middle of the pot portion of the constellation." Shinji did as Ivana suggested and peered through the telescope. Ivana didn't adjust it, so he looked straight at the well known constellation.

He was as equally, if not more surprised than Ivana at the sight he saw, "Wow. How did that star get there?"

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Misato relaxed back in her chair after finishing off the fifth can. It was a good thing she restocked her supply. She wondered what she would do if she had ever run out. As she was getting ready to open the sixth can, Asuka stormed in. She looked angry too.

So Misato decided to inquire. "What's wrong Asuka?"

To Misato's disappointment, Asuka completely ignored her and went towards the TV. Misato was facing the TV but she was lying back lazily in her chair so she didn't know what Asuka was doing. She had heard Asuka storm into the TV section and then she stopped as if she just noticed something, and then take a few softer steps. Misato then heard Asuka pick up something. Next was what the guardian believed was a gasp of shock followed by a buildup of pure German rage. Suddenly, Asuka stormed out of the apartment faster than she had came in.

Misato, out of curiosity decided to see what set Asuka off. Getting up from her chair, she slowly strolled over to where Zack snoozed on the couch all the while feeling the effects of the alcohol. But she was intact enough to see what horrible sight had lay in front of her on that couch: **Zack's secret box**. Misato noticed that it was open and a photo lay on the couch next to it. She looked at the photo and gasped. It was a picture of Shinji and Asuka sleeping together, and Shinji in the photo had his hands on her butt, and it seemed Asuka was enjoying the moment.

It then hit Misato what Asuka was going to do. Zack was likely the one that made her come storming in like she did, and now this new development would likely make the unstable Mt. Sohryu erupt.

"Asuka, I don't care what you do to him," said Misato aloud, "Just don't kill him. He doesn't even deserve death."

Misato then opened the balcony door so she could hear what was going on atop the apartment building. Just as she thought, Asuka had returned to the rooftop. She was yelling at someone whom Misato assumed was Zack. Next she heard what sounded like a struggle, and then a young male's scream of pain… then silence.

It seemed like an eternity had passed since she heard the scream. But then the door opened revealing Ivana, Shinji, and a surprisingly tranquil Asuka despite how angry she was when she stormed in and then out. After about ten seconds of the three kids coming inside to watch some television, the impaired Misato still had enough sense to ask where Zack was.

"Hey guys," she started with the evidence on her breath that she was drinking, "Where's the other guy?"

"Oh… he's around," answered Asuka curling up on the couch next to Shinji.

"Okay." Misato then went back to the kitchen and opened up the sixth can. Fifteen minutes later, Zack had not returned yet.

Shinji was getting a little worried, "It's been fifteen minutes since you did that Asuka. How hard did you hit him?"

"Hard enough to get the point across," she lazily replied, "Serves him right for what he did."

"Well you bent the telescope when you sacked him," Ivana stated, while suppressing a huge urge to break out in a fit of laughter, "I figure if we don't get him, he'll catch a cold out there."

"Well if you're that worried about him Ivana," Asuka angrily spoke, "go get the pervert."

"Fine I will." And with that, Ivana left the apartment to retrieve the fallen Casanova.

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International Space Station

"Sir, you may wish to take a look at this."

"What is it Harry?"

"You won't believe it until you see it yourself sir." Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station were using the Hubble Space Telescope to check out some of the galaxy's star constellations. Apparently, the commander's junior astronaut had found something that seemed intriguing. And so, the commanding officer took a look through the telescope.

"What am I looking for Harry?"

"Sir, check out the Big Dipper and look for a star that shouldn't be there," replied Harry. The commander did as Harry suggested. And so the telescope was programmed to face the Big Dipper. A simple constellation at best, so simple it could be recognized by young kids. There was the handle off to the left, and the pot was where it should be. But then he saw it. A star surprisingly could be seen in the middle of the pot. In all his years of space obsession, there never was a star in the middle of the pot.

Intrigued by this discovery, the commander zoomed in on that star. As he zoomed in on it, it began to look less and less like a star should from the zooming he had done on it. As he got close enough to it he was a hundred percent sure that it was not a star at all. It was a comet. Frantically, he started to do some calculations about it. He wanted to know how big it was compared to Earth, its speed, if it was heading on a collision course with Earth, and if it may collide with the Earth, how long until it did, and the potential damage it could do.

The information the commander had retrieved after doing his calculations completely horrified him. The comet was approximately the size of France, velocity of an unimaginable magnitude, and it would indeed collide with Earth. And if his calculations were correct, which to his dismay usually were, it would impact Earth in six days.

"Harry!" boomed the commander's voice, "Get the director of NASA on the horn, and send him the images! We have a serious problem!"

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Two Days Later

"COME ON YOU FUCKING WIMPS! RUN! RUN! RUN!" Coach Thunder was at it again with the Phys Ed class. Merciless as usual. The class was running the so-called warm-up laps, however according to the entire class; this was the opening part of the torture period.

Asuka had about enough of this jerk. It had been a month and a half and this guy's only intent so far was to make every class he had suffer until they dropped. And the suffering didn't stop.

So Asuka decided to take a stand, "Hey! Coach! What the fuck is the point of all this? You just torture us day in and day out! Is there any meaning to all this?"

"HEY BITCH! DID I SAY YOU COULD TALK? GET RUNNING YOUR EXTRA FIVE FUCKING LAPS NOW!"

Asuka knew her one-girl stand was over, but suddenly another voice spoke up, "She's right Coach! What is the point of all this? Training is one thing, but this falls under torture!" Asuka looked around to see who the third speaker was who dared to challenge the American coach. It was Shinji, who from the looks of things was using his dusty spine to stand up to the gym teacher.

"IKARI! YOU CAN JOIN HER FOR FIVE LAPS! THEN I WANT TO SEE YOU BOTH AFTER CLASS!" boomed the always-angry coach.

'Thanks Shinji', thought Asuka to herself.

Once the rest of the class had finished their laps, Coach Thunder told everyone to watch Shinji and Asuka run their laps and to shout at them to move their asses. Once they finally finished their laps, Coach Thunder had three students take out some hockey nets, hockey sticks, and goaltending equipment.

"OKAY YOU DUMB LITTLE SHITS! WE'RE PLAYING FLOOR HOCKEY TODAY! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE RULES, THEN TOO FUCKING BAD! BODY CONTACT WILL BE ALLOWED! FOR THOSE IDIOTS THAT DON'T UNDERSTAND, THEN GET THIS: IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED! YOU WILL BE DIVIDED UP INTO FOUR TEAMS, PLAYING KING OF THE COURT STYLE! I WILL BE THE REFEREE, AND I WANT NO BITCHING ABOUT MY REFEREEING SKILLS! DO YOU GET ME!"

"Sir! Yes sir!" replied the entire class in unison.

The overgrown bastard then began to divide the class into four teams. And there would be two goalies for each goal, which happened to be Shinji and Kensuke. Zack was on one team with Elly. Toji and Asuka got another team. Hikari and Ivana got the third team, and the fourth team was made up of unknowns.

Some of the other students, like Toji and Ivana were rather somewhat good; unfortunately it happened to be the one sport Zack was like the king at. Being a native of Canada, it was a country that could go absolutely crazy over hockey. He easily dominated every one else in that class, including Ivana and Toji. And for some reason, Coach Thunder invited himself into the game to prove he was the best at hockey. But pure skill from the Sixth Child beat anything the brute tried to throw his way. And the fact that Thunder was bested by some "punk kid" from Canada, it only pissed him off even more, and his head looked like it would explode. So when it came time for Asuka and Shinji to face the music for challenging the teacher earlier, Thunder was more sour that usual.

"SINCE YOU TWO LITTLE FUCKERS GAVE ME SOME LIP, I'M GONNA GET SOME RETRIBUTION!" his boomed across the gym, "YOU TWO WILL BOTH RUN TWO MILES AROUND THE GYM! AND THE FIRST PERSON TO MAKE TWO MILES MUST KEEP RUNNING UNTIL THE OTHER FINISHES THE TWO! NOW GET YOUR ASSES RUNNING NOW!"

2 miles and 45 minutes later – Hot Springs

After the after school torture session, Asuka and Shinji were aching from head to toe in pain. All their muscles and joints felt like they were going to fall apart. So both EVA pilots decided to relax their sore bodies with a dip in the nearby hot springs. They decided to share a spring, but to avoid any awkward predicaments; they decided to sit back to back.

"I would really love to put my foot up his ass!" Asuka griped as she relaxed up against Shinji's back. "Like what the hell is his problem?"

"I don't know," replied Shinji, feeling Asuka put more weight on his back. "I just don't understand why someone would be so angry for… no apparent reason."

Suddenly, Asuka remembered how Shinji stood up to the jerk, "Hey by the way, why did you stand up to that guy anyway? I figured you would have stayed silent."

"He's not that scary," Shinji answered. "He just likes to yell. Now if you put Misato with her varying moods or my father with the vibes he can give off in Coach Thunder's place, then I could get terrified easily." He could feel vibrations coming from Asuka's body. It seemed like she was trying to hold in a laugh.

She couldn't hold it for long as her heartfelt laughter went out into the air, "Oh man, I wonder what it would be like if Misato was our teacher! She'd probably get drunk in the middle of class and then go throw up out the window!" They both laughed at the thought for a bit. It'd be very hard to believe that they used to be at each other's throats not very long ago.

Just then and there, in another timeline and alternate universe, a navy blue haired teacher sneezed.

Shinji then looked up at what he thought was a star out in the daylight, but then remembered it was the comet they heard about on the news, "Say Asuka, have you heard anything new about that comet?"

"Not much other than that it'll just miss hitting Earth, and the fact it'll pass by in about three days," was the answer from Asuka. "But one can't help but get that feeling that those government officials are covering something up."

"Say Asuka, don't you think we should be getting back soon? Misato may wonder where we are."

Asuka reassured him, "Stop worrying about what Misato may think. We're sitting in a hot spring together, naked I might add. And we haven't even made a sexual advance on each other. And on top of that, Section 2 is probably watching us right now and probably reports to Misato about our whereabouts and what we are doing." Asuka was suddenly silent for a moment, but then had an outburst, "And don't think I didn't see you watching us you pervert!" she yelled into the air.

Shinji looked to his left to see someone fall down the side of the roof of the facility that housed the hot springs.

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"Well you wanted him summoned so badly, and you knew it would take him some time to get here, so suck it up. One more thing, don't yell at me either."

A hooded man was standing atop the Tokyo-3 high school. And he seemed rather displeased at the moment with whoever he was talking on his cell phone to.

"There's more to this than just the potential destruction of the world you know. The world's leaders are watching the events unfold, and they are on edge. They decided to try covering up the incident, and they're realizing that people are wondering why they keep seeing that star whenever they see that star. And astronomers know it's a comet and that it may impact Earth or just miss. On top of that, NERV will eventually have to make its move once they discover who he is, and that's when the fun will begin." He listened to the speaker on the other end for a bit for a bit longer.

"Look, if you're that frustrated and can't appreciate the finer points of things, take out your frustrations on the prisoners. God sent them there for a reason, so amuse yourself with them. Don't take your impatience and frustrations out on me." He then hung up the phone and looked up into the sky.

"Well Nebuchadnezzar, it's almost time… to take our most direct attempt yet at 4th Impact. NERV will try to stop you when they realize what you are. I hope you are ready."

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NERV HQ

The staff at NERV were watching the comet situation very closely. Gendo Ikari had been in contact with officials around the world as how to deal with this matter. The reason NERV was involved was that they may be asked to use the EVAs somehow to deal with this incoming comet that was only two-and-a-half days away.

As precautionary measures, Ritsuko had her workers analyze everything they had on the comet. This was so that if they were called to action, which was the likely case, they would be prepared for it.

"So what do we have so far?" asked the doctor to her flunkies.

"Nothing unusual so far," reported Makoto.

"Except for the fact that it is a rather large comet," put in Shigeru. "It's about the size of the France, mass is undeterminable at this point."

"The only thing that differentiates it from every other comet is its velocity," said Maya. "It's moving towards us at an alarming rate. The comet only passed Mars just a few minutes ago. I can only guess the acceleration, but if it's as high as I believe it is, we could be talking about possibly to the force in somewhere between the power of 9, to the power of 12, possibly 13, Newton's."

"I see." Ritsuko began to ponder the developments in her mind. There was the thought of sending missiles into space to blow it out of the sky. Knowing how big it was, it wouldn't be hard to hit. If NERV was to do the task, they would likely send Zack and Unit 05 into space because it could use the E-Type Equipment to go into space to plant an N2 mine inside the comet and blast the thing into bits. However there was the possibility that some unknown force could possibly increase the acceleration of the comet, thus increasing its speed. Such a contingency not only would decrease the time, but also would increase the likelihood of ripping the planet into pieces. The rate of descent at this point would already blanket Earth. Destruction was only the most likely result, should the force be any greater.

Right as Ritsuko planned to go take a break and tell her employees to keep analyzing the comet as best they could, Maya spoke up, "Doctor, I'm getting something from the MAGI."

"What is it?" asked Ritsuko.

"Apparently, that comet is giving off some strange vibe according to the MAGI. They're examining it right now," reported Makoto.

"Good," said Ritsuko. "Report back to me when the MAGI is finished analyzing. I'm going to step out for a bit. And tell Elly she's to be making dinner soon."

"Yes Doctor Akagi," answered Maya.

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Gendo Ikari's Office

It had been a rather eventful day for one of the most powerful men in the world. Gendo rather preferred a busy day to a dull day anyway. This comet issue was the subject of every meeting and discussion he had been in for the last 48 hours. And as the talks continued, the more evident it got that the whole world was preparing to dump the task on NERV again. The Americans even opted out of using the NASA space shuttles to put astronauts on the comet to blow it up. Russia also did not wish to use their cosmonauts either until they had more information on how to approach this task.

Along with his global agenda, there were local issues too to pile up. According to the Section 2 agents, the EVA pilots' Phys Ed teacher who went by the name of Coach Thunder was expressing unnatural cruelty towards the kids. He made a note of it sometime in the future to speak with this muscle bound blockhead and give him a stern walkthrough on how the EVA pilots were to be treated.

And now according to the information he had just received from Ritsuko's staff, the comet was showing some readings that made it somewhat different from the other comets. They also said the MAGI were analyzing it to see what it was. He had a hunch as to what it was, but decided to let the MAGI make the final decision. Patience would be the necessary virtue here.

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NERV Lounge

"Ah, nothing feels good like a break in work," Ritsuko said aloud as she prepared to sit down and have a quick cup of coffee. What a tense day it had been so far. And now with the help of her coffee, it offered her what she hoped could be a temporary escape from all of this. Right as she was about to take the first sip, her phone went off.

Sighing in frustration, she answered her phone, "Hello?"

"Doctor, we have a serious problem over here!" said Maya who apparently was the caller, "It's about the comet!"

"What about the comet?" asked Ritsuko, somewhat frightened as to what the answer may be.

"The comet is emitting a black waveform pattern!"

A/N: And there it is. The next Black Angel, on a collision course with our beloved earth. How will our heroes and heroines stop this looming threat? Can I come up with a less corny question? Find out in the next chapter! Until 55, be cool!

**A/N: That by far is one of the corniest things I've read.**


	55. Together on Earth and Beyond

A/N: I'm only gonna say this. If you got something negative to say, don't say anything. But if you're too immature to do that, at least leave a signed review so it shows that you're not a coward hiding behind anonymity. Those types are cowards as far as I'm concerned. And for the record, the other flamer who left a signed review did come forward but for other reasons and did apologize. So I ask that he be left alone if anyone still has a beef with him.

A/O/N: And in case anyone is wondering, I did not give out an advertising permit to a certain someone who wants everyone to kiss his/her ass. I don't give out permits to such arrogant people.

A/O/O/N: Remember, the _italics_ mean English speaking.

A/O/O/O/N: Now to the current situation. The 6th Black Angel has been spotted. Time for our heroes to take action. Willing to go into space, and beyond to save the world, and more importantly, their sorry asses.

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It was indeed a wonderful evening for Hikari Horaki. She remembered the advice Elly had given her a while ago, and decided to put it to good use. Swallowing all her pride and everything else that dared to hold her back, she had finally asked if Toji would go with her to this "Shoeless Joe's" restaurant. Asuka had told her that this restaurant had more American style tastes, but she would still like it.

In front of her, she had what was called a Nacho Supreme. It did indeed taste good, but it was not something a girl should be eating on a daily basis. Toji, who was sitting opposite to her, was definitely enjoying the Buffalo styled chicken wings he had ordered.

Hikari seemed to be the only one who could see the true side of Toji that no one else could. From the outer appearance, he seemed to be just big dumb jock like his EVA teammate Zack. Or others like Asuka would see only that he was some idiotic stooge like Kensuke or like Shinji so as Asuka figured not so long ago. Deep down, he was indeed a very nice and very kind person who cared for those he loves, just like Shinji cared for his loved ones.

"Hey Hikari? You there?"

That remark brought her back to reality. She saw the look of concern on his face disappear when he realized he had her attention once more. However, Hikari's dreamy look had turned into complete embarrassment. "U-uh ye-yea I'm h-here," she said.

"Good. Had me worried there for a moment," the Fourth Child responded. And there it was, the genuine kindness that Toji could show. The kindness that Hikari was always trying to show Asuka that he had. The kindness that could make the former class rep blush with infatuation.

After Toji paid for their dinner (yes he did like every guy taking his girl out should), the unlikely pair made their way back towards Hikari's residence. They silently agreed to take their time going back, to drag this wonderful night out as much as possible. So far, according to Hikari as she rested her head on Toji's shoulder and clung to his arm, the evening had gone just fine. But there was just one thing left on her agenda. And that was to finally tell Toji how she felt. But could she do it? She had come close so many other times, but something would always come up and crush her hopes.

Could she do it?

"Toji?"

"Y-yeah? What is it Hikari?" asked the boy.

Their eyes had now locked with each other. This was so much harder in real life then it was in the movies and books she had seen. Some may say it's not so difficult to say those three words, but in Hikari's mind, they were obviously lying out their asses. Also, people liked to maintain the delicate balance they had in their relationships that they could make with others. But those three words can do a tremendous amount to such a bond. It can either make that relationship grow and flourish when both sides know and accept what the other thinks. But if one is not capable or does not wish to accept the other's thoughts, that delicate balance can simply vanish.

"I… what I w-want t-to say… err… t-tell you i-is…"

Toji was confused. Hikari had been stuttering like this all night. Tell him? What did she want to tell him? Could it be what he and some others were suspecting? That the former class rep had feelings for him? He assumed that had to be the case, as she was always nice to him specifically, she brought him lunch every so often; she stood up for him when the redheaded devil Asuka was on one of her rampages. Could it be?

Hikari needed another approach. In her mind, this first plan was not working. So she tried her second plan. It was more direct, but she had to tell him, and in any way, shape, or form.

"Can you close your eyes for a second?" she asked him sweetly, "and not to open them until I tell you?"

Once he obeyed, she put her backup plan in place. It still was nerve wracking, but she had to do this otherwise she'd feel as if she betrayed her feelings. Slowly, she reached out with her arms and placed them around his neck in a hug-like fashion. He jumped, but only for a second.

"Do I need to keep my eyes closed?"

"J-just a l-little longer."

She was almost there. Using Toji's neck to support herself, she stood on her tiptoes as she moved her face closer to his. She was so close; she could feel his breath on her face. She closed her eyes as she was about to kiss him when…

The city's alarm went off. The sudden shock startled them both that they each took two steps back. Toji had a look of confusion on his face from whatever the hell just happened, and Hikari was blushing an Asuka red from the shock.

Toji however, knew his incoming duty and quickly regained his composure. "Hikari, we can deal with this later. Get to a shelter quickly!"

And with that, he took off towards NERV HQ. As Hikari watched her warrior go off to prepare to do battle, a single tear fell down her cheek.

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Meeting Room

"So it's going to be up to NERV to take action then."

"So it seems. The UN seems to enjoy dumping things on our hands."

Gendo Ikari was at a meeting with his committee. Matters could be dealt with much easier here because they were not nearly as edgy as the committee prior to 3rd Impact. Even better, is that none of them were affiliated with SEELE.

"Regardless, it will still be up to us to deal with this matter, before it becomes evident that the world leaders covered up the fact that the comet, which is now a Black Angel, strikes the planet," said Gendo.

Another member spoke up, "So how exactly are you going to stop this Black Angel?"

"Major Katsuragi, who is also the Director of Operations, will explain," answered Gendo. "Step forward."

Misato did as her commander ordered. Then she began to explain the operation. "Although the United States, nor Russia is willing to send their own men into space, they are willing to assist us with any attempts we wish to make."

"Elaborate," shot up a committee member.

"Like what we did with when we had the nuclear threat in space, we are going to send EVAs into space. Dr Akagi knows the specifics. But in a nutshell, with the assistance of two NASA shuttles plus a few extra rockets, we will send Units 05 and 06 into space. They will land directly on the comet. Once on the comet, they will drill a hole deep into the comet, plant an N2 mine down the hole, and blow the comet up before it impacts the planet."

Another member raised his hand. "Send Unit 06 into space? But the Seventh Child lacks the experience necessary for space combat."

"That is definitely the case," replied Misato. "But the Sixth and Seventh share a rather… close bond. I'm sure they can make this operation work out. And on top of that, it would be best to send as many EVAs as we can into space to beat this Black Angel."

After getting approval from the committee members, Misato returned to Central Dogma to sort out the plans with Ritsuko.

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Virtual Simulation Room

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

"Alright, but how many times will I have to throw up before I'm used to it?"

"Three."

"Well I'm at two now, so if I throw up anymore than three times, I'll be a bitching!"

Zack and Elly were both training on the virtual simulator with Units 05 and 06. They were being prepared as much as possible to go into space to fight the Black Angel that was looming towards them. Zack was quickly getting used to all the controls to function the many jet thrusters on Unit 05, while Elly had virtually thrown up twice from all the flips, spins, and sudden movements on Unit 06.

Ritsuko then opened up a com to the two pilots. "Okay you two, take a breather. You are both doing well as far as I'm concerned," she said to the two pilots in the simulator. "Anyways, we need to discuss how we are going to suit you two up for battle. Obviously, you'll both have E-type equipment so you two can fight up there." But then she faced Elly on the screen. "But Elly, we think that it would be best for you to also use the A-type equipment as well."

"A-type? Why do I need heavy armour mate?" asked pinkheaded girl.

"Well if there are any enemies residing on that comet that we don't know about, you'll be better protected since you're not as experienced as Zack in hand to hand or distance combat. And besides, your EVA is the only one that can use all types of equipment we can provide from A through E.

"Ah I see." She grinned at Zack, "I'm better protected than you. I always thought the guys were supposed to wear protection."

"No fair!" joked Zack. But he then turned to Ritsuko with the serious look back. "So now that we know who's got what equipment, what do we have in terms of weapons and bomb equipment?"

"Since Elly has the A-type equipment, it will be harder for her to move in close range combat. So she will be equipped with a positron rifle for distanced combat, and a progressive sword. Zack, you will get a pellet pistol and a progressive sword for in close combat." After looking at more of her papers, she continued, "Elly will have the drilling equipment, and you will carry the warhead with the N2 mine incased inside. You two get all that?"

"Roger!" replied the two pilots.

"Good, now get back to your training. We leave for America in four hours. Later, I will brief you both as to how you will land on the comet once in space."

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Supersonic Jet

Since Zack was one of her five charges, she had to go with him to the NASA Space Center in Florida. Ritsuko told her she may likely be there for a day or two, so she would ask one of the bridge bunnies, likely Maya to look after Asuka, Shinji, and Ivana. Hopefully Maya would be able to deal with the three. She remembered the conversation she had with the three before she left.

Flashback to two hours ago at NERV HQ

"Okay you three listen up!" ordered Misato. "I'm leaving the country for the United States. Since Casanova is under my charge, I must go with him. Once we defeat this Black Angel, it will likely be a few days before we get back. In that time, you will be under the supervision of Lt. Maya Ibuki."

"So we won't be without a slob for a few days!" retorted Asuka. "Why the sharp attitude then?"

Misato did not feel like arguing with Asuka at the moment so she ignored her and got straight to the point. "The point is, I want you three, especially you Asuka, on your best behaviour while I'm gone. If Maya reports one infraction from any of you, you will all feel my wrath when I get back."

"What? More yelling than usual?" shot back Asuka.

"If you wish to test that theory, then give Maya a hard time then Asuka," answered Misato. "And then you will see what happens. Then you will wish it was Gendo Ikari being your guardian instead." Once Misato noticed that Asuka remained silent, she continued with a grin on her face, "And two more things. Shinji and Asuka, you two will not be having sex while I'm gone." Once she got the blushing result from the two from her order/tease, she continued. "And if you do, I will find out. And by no means whatsoever, do you three go into my stash of beer. I know exactly how many cans are in there, and I have my ways of finding out if you girls and guy went into my beer. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the three in unison replied.

"Good," said Misato with a smile and a wink. "Have fun."

Flash forward

Perhaps it was for the better that Zack would be out of the apartment for some time, even for a week at least. However, this Black Angel would put a temporary halt on the plan to bring Rei home by the end of the week. She had vastly improved over the last week since she had awoken from her coma. She still could not stand on her own, but she was now able to sit up by herself although with great effort. And she still could not move her forearms or forelegs. But the good news was that Rei's mind had now completely registered with her new body, and that standing on her own, let alone walking was only a matter of time.

Misato eased herself back into the chair with her can of Yebisu in hand. She looked around the plane. Ritsuko was looking over some information that Misato had no clue about. Misato figured that it was probably something to do with the drilling scheme to defeat the Black Angel. Zack was reading a manual on space flight and how to use the E-Type equipment. Elly on the other hand, had dozed off while reading her manual on how to fight with the A-Type equipment. She was currently resting her head on Zack's shoulder. He didn't seem to mind though.

According to Ritsuko, this was pretty much a one shot plan. But the best one they could think of. Conventional weapons would not be able to penetrate the Black Angel's AT Field, so landing the EVAs on the comet was the only task. Once on the comet, they would send a drill deep into the comet's surface, arm the N2 mine and get off that comet when it blows. Ritsuko said they could use the AT Fields to defend themselves from the explosion and the debris. And if that failed, the planet would likely be doomed. Unless a miracle happened and Shinji and/or Asuka were able to bring out their EVA's wings like they had before. But that in itself was a long shot.

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Little to anyone's knowledge was that an interloper was on the NASA premises. The interloper was about average height. But the thing about him that stood out the most was that he was wearing a hood. He watched as NASA workers prepared for the arrivals of EVA Units 05 and 06 to be equipped with the necessary equipment.

"Ah, it truly is fascinating to see how hard these humans work together to protect their existence when it is threatened," he said aloud.

"But when their existence is threatened, they couldn't care less whether the man or woman next to them is dead," said a female's voice coming from apparently nowhere. "This pathetic trend of switching between caring and not caring must be stopped. Hopefully Nebuchadnezzar can deliver on his word to cleanse this planet of its sin. In a sense, we offer them salvation from the wrath of God when he plans to punish them."

The hooded man looked to his right. Another hooded person faded into view, only this person was much smaller than he was, unlike the one who was much larger than he was. Now he spoke to this smaller person. "And if Nebuchadnezzar fails, then our impatient friend will have someone else to take his frustration out on. By the way, has he cooled down yet?"

"He has finally," replied the smaller hooded person speaking with the female voice. "And the last thing I want is him throwing another tantrum," she said. "So this had better work."

The man attempted to speak, but the hooded woman continued. "Also, does SEELE know that there is more than just you and him to answer to? Do they know about me and the other two? I cannot help but have this feeling that Keel is going to try and go over you. He has 9 EVAs at his disposal."

"He will not dare. If I sense he may, I will introduce you and the other two. When he knows that he has five of us to answer to, he will fall back in line or else… he'll live again. And I know he will not want that after existing for thousands of years."

The woman allowed herself a smile. "And the young one also has a report that his special project is currently on schedule."

"Good Glad to know that Project V is also on schedule too. Now if you'll excuse me, I have matters to attend to. All I ask is that you let the humans do as they will. We must give them a fair chance to fight back, as to make this moment as good as possible." And with that he faded from view.

So now the woman was by herself watching the preparations in front of her. Suddenly, another hooded person appeared. This one was only as small as a child though. "Did you tell him about Project V?" asked the small one, with the voice of a seven-year-old boy.

The hooded woman lowered herself to his level. "Of course he did sweet-cheeks," she replied with the tone of a mother. "He was most pleased indeed. I'm sure though that when the subject of Project V is finished, he can't wait to have another crack at them. A certain one especially he can't wait to have another crack at."

"So when's Nebbie gonna crash into the planet?"

"Soon my dear, said the woman. "Soon."

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Seven hours later

Just like the last time Misato was in America, there was a flurry of activity around her as people were making preparations on Units 05 and 06. The equipment on Unit 05 was like she remembered it was. Jet thrusters on the shoulders, backs of the knees, and one on the elbow of each arm. Also, Unit 05 had more armour protecting the head and upper chest. Unit 06 however, was vastly different. Its jet thrusters were in the same places as Unit 05's. But the difference was that Unit 06's thrusters were much larger than Unit 05's and the pink EVA also had much more armour on it than before, making it look bigger and thicker.

The supersonic jet had finally landed in Florida at the NASA HQ there after a long nine hour flight. There was not much time to relax once they had landed. Misato and Ritsuko had gone to the computer room in NASA HQ where many technicians would monitor the space shuttle whenever they would be in orbit and satellites too. Misato watched as Ritsuko helped the technicians format the computers to be able to understand everything they needed to know about the EVAs and whatnot.

Ritsuko took a break for a moment and joined Misato. "Tough isn't it?"

"What is?" asked Misato.

"Not really being able to understand what's going on because of a simple language barrier huh?"

"Well I have somewhat of an idea what's going on. You guys are fixing up the computers so they have the necessary knowledge of the EVA and whatever else they need to know. And as far as I know, English is supposed to be one of the hardest languages in the known world."

Ritsuko smiled. "Well at least you're not totally clued out. Why don't you ask Zack to teach you English? I'm sure he wouldn't mind teaching you."

Misato returned a crazed woman look. "You think I would ask for the assistance of somebody who is just as perverted as Kaji if not more?"

"Why not? Rei is learning English from Elly. And she is getting better at it too."

"Maybe," said Misato. A thought then came to her. "Speaking of Zack and Elly, where are those two anyway?"

"They're in the training facility last I checked," replied Ritsuko. "I think Zack is teaching Elly how to fight with those bamboo sticks they brought." As she sipped her coffee, another question came to her mind. By the way, who's going to be watching Shinji, Asuka and Ivana? We will not be able to get back right away once this Black Angel is defeated."

Misato raised a finger with a grin on her face. "Well, out of the top three candidates that I myself had handpicked, I decided to ask Lt. Maya Ibuki to watch the kids."

"Maya you say," said Ritsuko as she sipped her coffee again. "Who were the other two?"

"Commanders Fuyutski and Ikari."

"Good choice."

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NASA Training Facility

The training facility was where the trainee and veteran astronauts would be trained for making the trip into outer space, being able to move in space, and handling the many other conditions that the final frontier had to offer.

However, the two occupants currently inside the facility at the moment were not using the training equipment. One of the occupants was a girl who had shoulder length pink hair, a pink bodysuit with pink hair clips. The other one was a boy had short brown hair, and a green bodysuit with green hair clips. They both held bokkens, which were wooden sticks shaped like swords. The girl was trying as hard as she could to hit the boy with her stick, but he was able to block her every attack.

The girl attacked and attacked again. But he blocked her every attack with little effort. She would attack him like she was swinging an ax. Like him, she was right handed. So when she swung to her left, he swiftly got around her right shoulder and quickly tripped her up.

"_Elly, you need to be able to let one attack smoothly flow into another. Making a bunch of chops is not going to help you make any process in battle,_" said the boy helping the girl to her feet.

"_Hey!" shot back Elly stomping her foot. "I'm not as skilled as you are Zack!_"

"_Hey calm down,_" replied Zack. "_You need to be calm when attacking your foe. If you were to attack in a blind rage, then even the weakest of foes can beat you._" He put an arm around her. "_Take a deep breath, relax your mind, and we'll continue. And remember to let your moves flow into each other so you don't get caught making a sloppy move._"

Elly took a few deep breaths, each one slower than the last. When she was sure she was completely calmed and relaxed, she raised her bokken at Zack again.

She attacked at his left shoulder on a 45 degree angle, making him raise his bokken to his left to block her assault. Quickly thinking, she brought her stick over to his right shoulder on a 60 degree angle. Once more, he blocked her attack. But she had an idea up her sleeve. She turned her weapon inward and forced Zack's bokken outside and she could advance inside.

Zack was surprised at her maneuver. Using his superior strength, he pushed her bokken back outside and backpedaled. "_Much better,_" he said with a smile on her face. When he saw the smile of encouragement on his girlfriend's face, he continued. "_Although that was much better, I sort of let you have that one. I'm going to be more defensive now though._"

"_Aww,_" Elly began to pout. "_Then I'll never be able to hit you._"

"_As we spar, if you force me to make an unorthodox move or make me move around sharply, then you're on the right track. Again._"

Elly attacked once more. This time, it was an overhead cleave. Zack placed his weapon on a 90 degree angle in comparison to Elly's weapon and blocked her attack. She then V-stepped to her left and delivered a 360 degree spin cut.

After Zack blocked this one, he spoke again. "_Be careful when administering those unorthodox moves. The slightest flaw in such a move can leave you wide open for a counter attack. That move was well delivered, but be cautious, understand?_"

"_Yeah, I get it,_" replied the pinkhead. "_But it's hard to hit you with simple attacks._"

Zack tried to comfort her. "_It's not your fault Elly. I just have had more experience than you in this sort of combat. You are not doing badly for a beginner. Mastering the sword is not a short and easy path._"

Elly had a question. "_What if I were to use two swords instead of one?_"

Zack had a grim look on his face as he answered her question. "_That is an excellent ability that comes with a very high risk. Using two swords deviates far away from the sword's original purpose. Much more flow and concentration is required in this case, because it's very easy to mess up and look very sloppy. So I would just stick with one right now._"

"_Wow. My knight knows a lot about swords,_" said Elly. "_I guess that makes me a warrior princess then._"

"_It sure does,_" replied Zack with a big grin on his face. "_Tell ya what. If my princess can hit me even once, even a nick, she gets to kiss me._"

"_Yay!_" Elly jumped for joy. She then raised her bokken once more. "_You'd better be ready. I want my kiss!_"

And she came at him again, with more determination than before.

Misato now entered the room. She had gotten bored of watching the technicians make the preparations on the EVAs, and she wanted to speak to the two EVA pilots before they took off into space. She saw Elly attacking Zack with a wooden stick that appeared be shaped like a sword with all her might. She thought for a moment that they were fighting, but as she heard Zack's coaching in what she figured was English over their clashing, she calmed down and watched.

"_Elly, you're not making any progress,_" said Zack as he blocked her last attack. "_If you can control my central line, you control the battle._"

Elly tried to obey her boyfriend's advice. She was indeed getting better as they fought. Once he blocked another overhead cleave, she did two things. She forced his bokken to his right, and stepped to his left, thus if he were to face her, his weapon would be behind him and she would have a clear shot at his side. As a result he quickly backed off and out of her reach.

"_Excellent,_" was Zack's response to Elly's last move. "_You forced me to move. If I couldn't back up, I would have been in serious trouble. Again._"

The Australian attacked the Canadian. Zack noticed her attacks were getting slower as she was trying to focus more on the flow of her moves. "_Faster Elly. Faster. Destroy my focus._"

This training was by no means easy. Elly thought to herself that she was by no means cut out for this. All this over taking a tank for a joyride. Now she could have sworn for sure that her drink at that restaurant was spiked before she went to the military base. And just like that, she had become an EVA pilot under the threat of going to a juvenile prison. Now he was telling her to go faster. But he wouldn't be giving her bad advice though. She gripped her weapon tighter and intensified her ferocity.

Zack noticed Elly indeed tried to take her attacks up a notch. However, her attacks did not flow as well as they used to. "_You're holding your weapon too tightly._" Suddenly, he managed to knock her weapon out of her hand and it fell to the ground. "_Now too lightly. But I must say you have improved a lot._"

"_Hey! Don't you know to go easy on a girl? You jerk!_" Elly was indeed frustrated.

Zack was silent a moment before speaking. "_That hurt Elly. That hurt indeed,_" he said with a frown on his face. But then his face lightened up. "_But a promise is a promise. If you could hurt me, you get your kiss._"

Elly didn't hesitate a moment longer before capturing the boy in a long, bur tender kiss. As she kissed him, she felt one of his hands around her waist, and the other one caressing her hair.

Misato unfortunately had to watch the two make out in the room. She wanted to interrupt them, but at the same time, they may not get another moment like this because of the looming Black Angel.

Misato then realized that this person kissing the pink haired girl was indeed the real Zack Harper. Sure the guy could be the smartest idiot the world had ever seen, but at the same time, he could be one of the nicest and most loyal people you could have on your side. He indeed was a knight in jester's clothing. Once they finished their minute or so long kiss, she decided to speak to them.

Zack noticed her first. "Hey Misato. What's up?" he asked switching back to Japanese.

"Just came to talk to you guys," his guardian replied. She then motioned to Elly. "Elly, could you just go wait over there. I have something I wish to tell Casanova before you two go into space. Once I'm done talking to him, I want to talk to you after."

"All right mate," said Elly. "I'll be right over here."

Once Elly walked out of earshot, Zack was curious as to why Misato asked her to go out of earshot. "So, what's up Misato?"

"Zack, you know there is a very high potential that this plan may not work right?"

"Obviously," replied Zack. "Planting a bomb on a comet to stop it from impacting the planet is an extremely high risk. I've seen all the movies about it. What is your real concern?" he asked, seeing past Misato's question.

Misato glanced at Elly for a moment before returning to face Zack. "I'm worried about Elly. She does a good job of hiding it, but I can tell she is scared of going into space."

Zack was surprised. "Are you sure?"

Misato put her hands on his shoulders. "She is absolutely terrified. Knowing what a noble person you really are when you're not pissing off Asuka, I ask that you stand by her throughout this ordeal. And since we do not know what is on that comet, do not expect her to be able to fight as efficiently as she usually can. Are you ready for that?"

Zack grinned. "Of course I will. I love her Misato. If we are still together sometime down that road, I'd marry her one of these days."

"Good," said Misato. "One more thing. And you didn't hear this from me. I ask, no I wish for you to put her safety before the planet's safety. Even if means you have to defy Commander Ikari or Fuyutski. If you two are to die on this mission, she wouldn't want to die alone. You may not be able to have the same powers that Shinji and Asuka have, but your love for her is just as big as Shinji's love for Asuka." She paused for a moment. "Can I have your word that you will do everything you can to keep her safe?"

Zack had his usual grin of confidence. "Count on it."

Misato then wrapped the self-proclaimed Casanova into a tight hug and kissed him on the cheek. "You may not know this, but regardless of blood, you are like my son," she said with tears streaming down her face. "Regardless of all your stupid antics, I have never hated you once. I love you like I love Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Ivana."

"Thanks Misato," replied the Canadian trying not to cry himself. "You're like the mother I never had too."

Misato finally broke the embrace. "Good. Now wait here while I go speak with Elly."

Elly noticed that Misato was coming towards her. She had sat down on a bench and was pondering her thoughts while Misato was talking to Zack. The fact that she was coming over meant that she was finished talking with Zack. She wondered what the Director of Operations would say to her.

Misato sat down next to her. "Hey Elly. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing okay," said Elly who had her head bowed down.

Misato put an arm around her. "If something's bothering you Elly, there's no shame in saying what's bothering you."

Elly was quiet for a moment. Misato could see the tears dripping onto her pink plugsuit. "I… I… I'm s-scared of going up there." As she finished her sentence, she broke down crying. "I want to help. But I know I'll only get in his way," she sobbed into Misato's shoulder who had pulled her into an embrace.

Misato tried to console the poor girl. "Elly. As far as I'm concerned, you're doing a very noble and honourable thing by piloting the EVA into space. Not many people could do what you're going to do." She then pulled the crying girl out of the embrace to stare into her tear soaked eyes. "And on top of that, I think Zack really likes the fact that the one he loves is going up there with him."

"Really?" asked Elly.

"I'm serious," answered Misato with a smile. "And I can bet that your support alone is stronger than any weapon he can take into battle. I'm sure he thinks he can do anything on your support alone. So dry your tears, and stand side by side with him when you go up there."

"Thank you mate," said Elly. "I'll do my best. I won't let you down."

"Good. Now go spend your remaining time with him. You will be departing soon for battle."

As Misato left the training facility, Zack and Elly were alone again. Zack noticed her face was a little puffy. "_Hey are you okay?_" he asked.

"_Yeah, I'm okay mate,_" the pink haired girl replied. "_Just a little scared that's all._"

Zack pulled her into a hug. "_Hey don't worry. I'm here for you. I love you. We're in this together. However this goes, we'll be together until the end._"

"Thank you, my knight in shining armour, or in your case, my love in a green plugsuit." She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him into a kiss.

Zack wasted no time in returning her affections. Gripping her hips, he hoisted her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist and kiss him even deeper.

After a minute or so, she broke off the kiss and rested her head on his shoulder, like a baby would rest on its parent's shoulder.

"_Hey Zack_," Elly whispered in his ear. "_How much time do we have left before it's time to go_?"

"_We have about 85 minutes. Why do you ask?"_

She whispered into his ear again. "_Can we go to your room? I have something I want to show you_." She kissed him quickly. "_And only you_," she finished with a seductive tone.

And with that, they went off towards his temporarily assigned room.

A/N: And so next time, Zack and Elly will travel into space and beyond to tackle the biggest threat yet! What threats await on that evil rock as it approaches the planet? Does the English speaking duo have what it takes to destroy something that is the size of France? Will I pass my exam tomorrow? Find out next time!

A/O/N: Since my prereader is AWL (Absent with leave), this chapter is not preread. I had another prereader in the works, but my patience with him was dispersed by my Anti-Matter Cannon 3000.

A/O/O/N: I kinda got the Zack/Elly training idea from Star Wars: The Clone Wars chapter 2. Except Zack and Elly are less skilled than Jedi unfortunately.


	56. Soup for the HalfAngel's Soul

A/N: Wow! Another review explosion! However, I got news for all you guys. Please get someone to use a defibrillator on you if you thought this would be discontinued and you had a heart attack as a result. The news is that I'm going to be making some changes to my previous chapters. I'll announce the changes as I make them.

A/O/N: Now back to the topic at hand. A large comet. On a collision course with Earth. IDed as the 6th Black Angel. Let's watch and see how our English speaking duo, Zack and Elly, handle this threat.

"_Is everything all ready for liftoff_?" Ritsuko asked the chief technician in charge of preparing the EVAs for their mission into space to destroy the Black Angel.

"_We're almost ready Dr. Akagi,_" replied the man in charge. "_However, we have to increase the thrust output on the thrusters being placed on Unit 06 because its armour is much thicker and heavier than that of Unit 05's_."

"_I see_," Ritsuko then turned to Misato and switched to Japanese, "So Misato, where's Zack and Elly?"

"Oh I decided to give them some time alone. This may be their last time together, so I wanted them to enjoy it by themselves."

"That's fine," said the doctor who was looking at some notes. "Just make sure they are here when it's time for them to go."

Misato sipped back at her coffee, and said aloud, "It just isn't fair that we have to subject these kids to this. We're depriving them of the adolescence they should be enjoying."

Ritsuko looked down from her notes to look at Misato. "Don't you think that subjecting a child to do an adult's work tears at me everyday too? If I had the choice, I'd pilot Unit 05 or Unit 06 and continue to let those two make out. However, they're our last hope in this battle, or would you rather see all of mankind get wiped out by the largest comet we've ever seen?"

"I don't need to answer that question."

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NERV Cafeteria

It was another lazy day in the lives of those going on at NERV HQ. In the instance of a Black Angel, everyone would be at their battle stations on First Stage Alert. But the new NERV Branch in Florida was taking care of the task this time around. If those Americans were not going to send astronauts into space, Gendo Ikari had insisted that the American NERV Commander allow Major Katsuragi access to the facility to send Units 05 and 06 into space, which the Americans did not object to, save for some Congressmen who were worried that the presence of the EVAs could potentially mean another incident like the Second Branch in Nevada.

But for the moment, the situation was out of his hands. So it was up to Major Katsuragi and the Sixth and Seventh Children to complete the task put in front of them. He on the other hand, was dealing with the prime rib sandwich he had in front of him, and conversing with his former teacher and Vice-Commander. The fact that he was even having this conversation with Fuyutski and was not in Central Dogma showed how calm he was being in such a tight situation.

"With the Sixth and Seventh out of the country, and Rei still unable to pilot, we're down to four pilots," said Fuyutski.

"It is not reason to be alarmed," replied Gendo. "We have managed successful results with only one EVA before."

"That may be true. But SEELE may try another attempt to sow the seeds for Fourth Impact. We may have incapacitated the EVA Series, but what's stopping them from coming back once more? And the threat of the Black Angels on another front makes the threat more impending. Shinji and Asuka may have become more powerful, but even they have their limits. What if they get hurt? That would leave the inexperienced Fourth Child, and the Fifth Child."

Gendo knew what Kozou was talking about and got to the point. "If you're suggesting that we acquire more EVA pilots, then we are only able to acquire one pilot with an adequate EVA from my secret EVA project. And that would be the repaired Unit 07 in the EVA cages. Unit 08 is inadequate, and Unit 10 is missing."

Fuyutski then showed him a list of candidates. "Then that means we will only be able to choose one instead of three."

Gendo looked over the list of candidates, and their potential scores. After a few minutes of reading the score, he spoke up, "Hmm. These three have the overall best scores to be an EVA pilot," he concluded. He watched Fuyutski get up and come around to look.

"I suggest the third of the three choices," said Fuyutski pointing to a name on the list.

"Because of the connections we've learned of?"

"That's only part of the reason. The second choice is also good, and the first would be rather excited about this. However they have drawbacks," answered Fuyutski. "The first would lack the ability to properly read a situation based on the evaluations. The second lives fairly far away from here. The third does not have either of these drawbacks, has leadership capabilities, and tends to be relaxed and calm."

"That is true though. But the question that remains is whether the candidate will be up to the task." Gendo then took a bite into the tasty prime rib sandwich. "And the only way to know is to find out. Bring the candidate in once the Black Angel is defeated. I will trust that you can handle the final decision as to whether our person in question will pilot EVA."

Fuyutski asked another question. "What will you be doing?" he asked indirectly questioning his superior's order.

After Gendo swallowed another bite he answered, "There is a certain someone at Tokyo-3 High School that I need to speak to," he smirked.

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NERV Hospital – Rei's Room

Loneliness was a feeling that still felt very foreign to Rei, but she was beginning to understand how it felt. And from what she had grasped of this feeling, was that it was not a good feeling for a human to have. She would usually get regular visits from Elly when it was time for lunch, or Zack would come by too when he came to see Elly, but they had both left for the United States to combat the next Black Angel. So indeed, Rei was beginning to feel what people tended to call loneliness.

In terms of movement, she had almost complete control of her arms and legs since recovering from Angel Rejection Syndrome. When she asked the doctors if she could try walking with assistance, the doctors declined her request. When Rei asked why, it was because she did not have complete control over her movements. Subconsciously, it was an attempt to get out of that room and brush off the lonely feeling.

Rei was slightly surprised when the doctor who came into her room relayed this message to her: "Miss Ayanami, someone is here to see you."

Rei looked to the door to see the second person in her life that had made a place for her in his heart. Shinji Ikari. She watched as he slowly took a chair and placed it next to her bed.

"Good day Ikari." Shinji merely nodded towards her greeting as he just stared her. As the two stared at one another, the awkward silence between the both of them began to gnaw at them, creating an extremely uncomfortable atmosphere.

In an attempt to break the silence Shinji pulled out a thermos from his bag, "I … I brought some lunch. Zack always told me stories about hospital food that they would vary. So I made you something would probably like." He then opened the thermos to reveal the steaming contents, "This is a cream of broccoli and mushroom soup I made from scratch. Since you're a vegetarian, I figured you would like this a lot." Rei couldn't help but blush. Someone going out of their way to do something kind for her was rare for her. And she did not know how to react for a moment. Quickly remembering that people are usually grateful for others' acts of kindness, it made her feel grateful too.

She slowly smiled at him as she quietly spoke, "Thank you."

"You're welcome Rei." Since the nervous feeling was dissipating, the conversing that was to follow for Shinji felt a little easier, "Do you know when you're coming home? We are all wondering when you can come home."

"Dr. Akagi told me before she left for America that I would be able to go leave when I require minimal assistance to walk, and had full motor control," said Rei with a hint of disappointment as she finished her sentence. Shinji felt sympathetic towards her, as he too wanted her to up and about as soon as possible. The fact she wanted out soon was something he could relate. He wanted her out soon as well to see her up and about once more. All he wanted was to see his sister out of this dreary hospital and be around her family again.

"Family…" he quietly muttered.

"Pardon me?" Rei asked aloud bringing Shinji out his moment of thought. He looked back at Rei into her now lavender eyes to see that she seemed confused about his current state of mind.

As he looked at her, he could somehow see parts of himself, his father, and what he believed to be his mother. He remembered seeing the face of his mother during Third Impact, to see that she had emerald eyes and brown hair. In Rei, he could see the way her hair grew was much like the woman in saw. She also had his father's steel grip upon emotions, while at the same time her own unique set of emotions, or rather lack thereof.

He knew that this issue would come up sooner or later. He always had feelings for Rei, but was never sure of it. Prior to Third Impact, even her death against the 16th Angel, he had guessed he had a crush towards the enigmatic girl that was Rei Ayanami. But with the recent information of what was used to make her unhinged his feelings towards her and unsure of what he should consider her. Even now he was unsure of how to view Rei. Was she Rei his half-sister, or Rei the girl he cared for? He was at a complete loss to put it simply.

"Ikari, is something wrong? You seem troubled."

Shinji took a deep breath, "It's something that's been bothering me for a while now. I am unsure of what to consider you as. Are you my sister? Or are you your own person? I really don't know what to think."

"Do you wish for my opinion?" Rei silently offered. Shinji nodded in acknowledgement.

"I do not care. To me, I am Rei Ayanami. Whether I am your sister or your friend is defined by you and everyone else. I choose whether to define myself as Rei Ayanami, sister of Shinji, or friend of Shinji. It is as simple as that from my perspective."

"Rei," Shinji quietly began, "It's not that simple. I grew up in society. I know its rules, I grew up with the rules, and so I'm bound by them. I can't dump the rules that easily. You know I can't do something like that easily."

"Ikari, it is your decision. I merely offered my opinion. It is you who ultimately makes the choice. I can only offer advice either as your friend or as your sister. Do you understand, Shinji?" He could only sigh in frustration. This was all very confusing for him. Although he had stated to Asuka that Rei was her sister, he was still unsure. He wanted to insure that his feelings of Rei were sorted out. For he could possibly risk getting in trouble with society, while also inadvertently hurt Asuka in the process. That was the last thing he needed. There were at this point two options available.

Acknowledge Rei as her own person and have feelings towards her as a crush and risk hurting Asuka and piss off society if they ever got her medical file, or acknowledge her as his own sister, and therefore spare himself the problem. It wasn't an easy decision. Not because choosing the latter option was the right thing to do, but because of his feelings towards the girl. Was she an Ikari, or was she Ayanami? That's what it came down to. Ultimately it was his choice of whether or not she was family. He also remembered how he had treated Rei before Third Impact.

He feared her. He ran away from her. He couldn't acknowledge the fact that she was cloned, and that she was made from his mother. He still had those feelings after Third Impact, but had better control of it. But now, Rei was aware of his problem and it left him in a bind. He had to make a choice. He had to tell her whether or he considered her his sister or not.

"If you do not have an answer, please do not rush it. I shall still be here when you have come to a decision."

Shinji slightly smiled at her as he replied, "Thank you. I don't think I could come up with an answer right away anyways."

"May I suggest that you speak with your father? I believe he would be the appropriate one to speak to." His smile widened further as he remembered that day he had spent with this father. He had opened himself to Shinji enough for him to learn a few things about the man that was his father. Perhaps this would help.

"Thank you Rei. I will." He looked down at the opened thermos for a moment before he poured her some of the soup and held the cup out to her which she gently took into her hands, and sipped.

As she removed the cup from her lips, she gently smiled and said, "It is nice. Thank you for bringing me this soup"

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Gendo Ikari's Office – He finally turned up the heat. Now to fix the lighting.

"Your concern is noted however without visual evidence of such a sighting, I will not waste resources to have an EVA investigate the matter." Gendo had been on the phone with the NERV Branch in Russia for the last twenty minutes. Apparently there were rumours going about that somebody had sighted a giant robot somewhere in Russia's countryside. But Gendo was having difficulty convincing the Commander on the other end that he would not act unless there was actual first hand proof, and not some third hand sighting from a hippie.

"Present evidence and I shall act accordingly," he firmly stated as he noticed Shinji walk in. That provided him with a perfect chance for Gendo to rid himself of this particular pest.

"I do not have time for this. I have other matters to attend to." Shinji could still hear someone on the other end of the phone still talking as he saw his father hang up the phone. He noticed that although there was still very little lighting in the room, the heat had been turned up a bit. At least enough to the point where he didn't have to resist the urge to shiver.

"You may come forward," Gendo's voice called out. Shinji hesitated for a moment, but eventually proceeded to his father's desk. As he walked up to his desk, his footsteps echoed through the silent room, serving to only build tension within him. For a few moments there was silence. Enough silence for a tumbleweed to blow by. He was also nervous, as this was the second time he was with his father, and was still unsure of how to talk to him. But seeing the significance of what he wanted to speak to his father about was able to muster up the courage to speak to the man. (Formerly known by FF authors as the Bastard King)

Shinji had originally planned to put this off for another time, but this would likely be the best chance he'd have for a while. With Asuka was visiting Hikari at one of the shelters the citizens were ordered into when NERV determined that the comet was a Black Angel. If she knew this crisis was happening, there'd be problems until it was solved. Most likely arguments would incur and possible emotional distress for the both of them.

Not wanting to invoke such a crisis, he decided he needed to settle this now, "Father. I have a question. It's about Rei."

"Proceed," Gendo stated in a crisp yet understanding manner.

"Rei, how is she related or not to me?" asked Shinji. "Ever since I've learned of her origins through what I learned in the Chamber of Guff, it's been a question that never went away." After Shinji asked the question, Gendo went silent, though his posture did not change. Did he have answer? Was he thinking of an answer to a surprise question? Perhaps he was trying to put the answer in a way he could understand it. Nobody really knew what was on the Commander's mind unless he chose to speak it which in itself was a rarity.

"What you ask is in a manner of speaking is a rather vague and ambiguous question," he calmly stated. "What exactly did she say to you?"

"Well uh…" he was feeling extremely flustered, but took slow deep breaths before he continued. "She told me she didn't care whether she was my friend or my sister. She said that I define who she is." Afterwards silence refilled the room.

After about five minutes of silence, Gendo could see that this might prove to be an interesting discussion, "Going by what you see and what the data says she is what you believe is she?"

"I don't understand Father," said Shinji.

"I didn't expect you to," replied Gendo. "My question is this, first glance, what do you see her as?"

"I see her as my sister."

Gendo nodded, "From initial perspective you see your sister. However, sometimes there is more than meets the eye." Shinji could only stare at Gendo utterly confused by his words. He couldn't understand what he was talking about. Seeing the confusion in his eyes, he knew he had to choose his words carefully.

"As you already know though, Rei was created with half your mother's blood. Now, here is the question that you should be asking yourself. When you look at her, what do you see? Do you see a living representation of your mother, just as people would consider you a representation of me? Or do you see a girl who you care for deeply?"

"I…I still don't know…and…I still do not understand father." Gendo looked hard at his son. He could see that he was still highly confused and in turmoil. His face easily told him that he didn't know to think and it left him easily impressionable. Although this would've served him nicely during his scenario, however things had changed, and he was a different man. He knew he had to choose his words carefully yet again.

"I am telling you this not only so you can make the choice yourself, but you must understand how Rei views the world. I raised her to have a unique perspective on the world around her. She makes her own opinions, and then notes other opinions on matters, but never alter her own opinions. That is how she views the world. That should tell you what you need to know in terms of her perspective. Do you understand that?"

"So are you saying that she doesn't really care if I consider her as my sister or friend?"

Gendo nodded, "That is correct. To her, she can be both. Ultimately the choice is yours. There are people who are willing to commit acts of incest. That choice falls upon you. That is the ultimate question. If you were to at some point break up with Asuka, are you willing to commit the act of incest?"

Shinji was stunned. His own father just asked him if he was willing to go as far as having sex with Rei if he and here to have a relationship. He looked down at the floor as he contemplated what exactly he wanted. Did he want go that far? Did he want to love Rei in that manner? What that what his mind and heart told him? This proved to be confusing to him as he tried to come up with an answer.

"Shinji, the facts are present, the opinions have been told, now you make the final decision. What information is relevant to you," which he heavily emphasized. "You can disregard any information that is irrelevant to your decision. It is up to you. Just like your choices in life: Ultimately it is your choice of which action you take. Do you understand?"

"But…that isn't the problem. I don't know what I feel when I'm around her. I-"

"That is your problem. You are clouded by your emotions. Albeit they can be an asset to your decision, this is too much. You must put your emotions into proper perspective to make a proper decision. The decision comes to this. What do you feel? What do you want? How do you want to do this? That is what it comes down to. I have given you all the tools required to make such a decision. Do not let your own emotions cloud your judgment. That was what led me to this state, except it was obsession. Do you understand?"

Shinji looked deep within himself as he began to ask those questions. He knew he loved Rei, and that he wanted to protect her. He wanted her to be safe and to be able to be happy in life. He would willingly give his life to keep her alive, and he would stand by her side and teach her the way to truly live out life.

"I have one final question. When you are around her, do you have the desire to hold her hand, or to hold her at a more intimate level?" He took a moment to think upon the question. He tried to imagine himself holding Rei is any intimate position that didn't involve sex, and found that he couldn't really see himself doing anything he did with Asuka already.

He smiled as he looked up into his father's eyes and spoke confidently, "I know the answer to my question." Gendo took off his glasses for the first time and stared back with his own eyes. Shinji could only stare in wonder as he saw the proud look upon his face. He suddenly brought his hands down revealing a smile upon his face.

"Good. You have made your first decision as a man," he calmly stated. "Now go tell her your newfound knowledge."

A/N: So who is the Eighth Child? Andhowwhat will be the outcome of Shinji's talk with Rei?And how will Zack and Elly fare against the Black Angel?

A/O/N: I'm sorry this didn't get out sooner. I had exams, and the site caught a bug.

Until 57, be cool!


	57. Nebuchadnezzar

A/N: This is actually the second half of Chapter 56. It was so ludicrously long, that I decided to split it in two. Enjoy! And for those that may have been wondering, I don't believe in the faint-hope clause as you'll soon find out.

By now Rei had managed to finish off the soup Shinji had managed to bring her. Just as Shinji said it would, it tasted good indeed. Somehow, the fact alone that he had visited had given her the strength to be able to properly grip the thermos in her hand, as she would have had difficulty prior to his visit. Rei knew that people called this a morale boost, a boost in their tasking abilities due to an outside factor.

A smile slowly crept its way onto her face when she saw Shinji return to her hospital room. This time, instead of uncertainty, she saw complete certainty on his face. From the look on his face, the conversation he had with his father went well.

"Did the Commander tell you what you wanted to hear?"

"Not exactly," replied Shinji as he stopped by her bed. "He told me that I already knew and that I had to make a clear and absolute decision without my emotions clouding my judgment."

Rei nodded, seeing that the Commander had seen her point and asked another question, "Were you able to make a decision based on the criteria you had?"

"Yes. I was," Shinji firmly answered. He took a deep breath and let it out before he answered.

"Rei, you are a very important person to me. I'll even go as far to admit I had a crush on you at one time. But with Father, I've come to some understandings. As much as I do love you, it would only be the love shared between a brother and sister."

"So you see me as your sister then. I can accept that," said Rei as she softly smiled, the way she did during the battle against the fifth. "Then you are my brother." Shinji smiled widely at the sight of his sister's beautiful smile. It was truly a sight to behold. It made Shinji thankful that he knew her. However he now wonders, would that same ethereal appearance in that smile would still be the same when her human DNA would assert itself.

"The love I for isn't the same as Asuka, but I vow that our love will still be eternal. Rei let me be the first to say, welcome to the Ikari family, Rei Ikari." As Shinji spoke, he slowly encircled his arms around Rei as he embraced her in a warm hug. On the other end, Rei mustered all of her will to wrap her arms around her newfound brother. After a minute or so, Shinji and Rei broke the hug and looked into one another's eyes.

Shinji smiled widely to see to care in her eyes. It was something he could enjoy everyday of his life, along with the beauty that his love Asuka had. One of sisterly love, the other one only finds in true love.

Shinji let out a sigh as he spoke again, "Sorry but I have to leave now Rei. You are my sister, but Asuka may get the wrong idea. We have to let her get used to this or there'll be problems."

"I… understand," said Rei with what Shinji could swear was disappointment in her tone as she looked down at the floor. In concern Shinji tilted her head back up towards his to see she was smiling again.

His smile widened further as she said, "Thank you … for visiting, otouto-chan."

"I'll visit you tomorrow onee-chan. I promise." Rei nodded as they hugged each other for a moment before Shinji left the room, leaving the two of them in higher spirits than ever.

**(Hey, hey, Shran here, just to let you guys know, the term Rei used means younger brother whereas Shinji address her as older sister. Note this is most likely the only time you'll see Japanese terms.)**

Once he left Rei's room, he began to wander the halls of NERV, with peace and content on his mind. Feeling tired already, and hoping to get some rest before being called to the EVAs in case of a potential emergency, he walked towards the sleeping quarters. However, he runs into another important girl in his life.

"Whacha doin Shinji?" asks Asuka.

"Just going to the barracks to get some rest. If something goes wrong with Misato's operation in America, it'll be up to us to defend the planet. And I don't want to do that while tired."

So Asuka, apparently decides to follow Shinji to the barracks, unaware of whether she wants to get some rest herself, or just spend some time with Shinji before they get called to action. A thought came to her, "What exactly are they planning to do again?"

Shinji thought for a moment about what Maya had told him about the plan, then gave his answer, "They're putting Zack and Elly in space, and they plan to land the EVAs on the Black Angel or comet. Next they drill a hole into the comet, stick an N2 mine inside, and blow up the comet before it impacts the earth.

Once Asuka finishes listening to what Shinji said, he notices she seemed to be lost in thought for about a minute or two. "Asuka?"

"What's up?"

"You seemed to be lost in thought there for a moment," said Shinji. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine dingdong," answered Asuka playfully. "It just reminded me of a movie I saw when I was still in Germany. An American movie, so I needed the subtitles. But it reminded me of this very plan. Just can't put my finger on what movie it was." She takes Shinji's left arm and holds it to her chest, and leans her head on his shoulder,"Anyways, let's get some sleep."

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Florida – NASA Center

"Alright!" said Zack from within his entry plug in Unit 05. "We're going to the final frontier!"

"Yeah!" declared Elly, who was trying to be brave like Misato told her. "Let's rock and roll!"

"Remember the importance of your mission you two," said Ritsuko who had a frown on her face. "You'll have to fly around the comet and land on it from the tail. So once you get behind it, you'll have to bust your ass to get on it as it's moving pretty fast. We've gone over the procedure on how to drill the hole and arm the N2 mine. I apologize for having to tell you two that you're on your own once you plant that mine."

"Okay, thanks for breaking the bad news to us Doc. Shows how much you guys care about us," replied Zack sarcastically. "Anyways, just give the word, and we'll save the world again for everyone."

Ritsuko shrugged before looking to the technicians, "_Is everything ready for liftoff_?"

"_Yes ma'am. Units 05 and 06 are in excellent condition, all thrusters providing liftoff support are all in working order_."

"_And the E-type equipment on Units 05 and 06_?"

"_In perfect working order ma'am_," answered the chief technician again. "_And Unit 06's A-type armour is properly fitted_."

"_Good_." Ritsuko looked at the screens which displayed Unit 05 and Unit 06. Unit 05 still had its general green colour, but was fitted with extra plates of armour which were coloured to protect it from the extra hot atmosphere. The extra thrusters and wings were also coloured white. It reminded Ritsuko somewhat of the EVA Series. In one hand, Unit 05 held the warhead which contained the N2 mine, and in the other hand, was his progressive sword. The pistols were holstered around the EVA's waist.

Unit 06 was vastly different from the way it originally looked. Instead of its usual pink colour, it was covered in what could be defined as black armour plating, which would give Elly more protection than what she could get out of her EVA originally. Like Unit 05, Unit 06 also had the extra white thrusters, despite that they were thicker because of the extra power needed to get the heavier EVA off the ground. The white wings topped off her E-type equipment. In one hand, was Unit 06's progressive sword. The drilling equipment was holstered on its left arm. The positron rifle was attached to the back of the wings, utilizing her for distance combat.

"You're the Director of Operations Misato," said Ritsuko. "When you give the order, the countdown will initiate."

Misato was silent for a moment. She knew that once she gave the order, she would be potentially executing an order that may possibly send two innocent (well maybe not completely innocent) children to their deaths thousands of miles above the earth.

Zack saw the distress that was on Misato's face once Dr. Akagi had finished talking, and figured she could use a boost in morale. "C'mon! Misato! We'll be fine! Once we trash this rock, we can go home, and I'll make Asuka's life a living hell again! We believe in you! Just like you believe in us… sometimes!"

"Yeah!" put in Elly. "And I'll try to steal away her Shinji again! Just like old times! But we can't do that until you order our asses into space! You have almost all our confidence!"

Zack and Elly then began a "Misato" chant in an attempt to fire her up.

Since the technicians were American, they didn't understand Japanese dialect, but they knew the kids were cheering the Major on in getting her to give the order. Thus they joined in.

Misato was taken aback by the amount of support and confidence the others had in her. She looked to Ritsuko, who now had even joined in this little cheer. Boosted by the vote of confidence, she raised a hand silencing the room. Taking a moment to remember the English phrase for 'initiate the countdown', she spoke, "_Initiate the countdown_!"

Zack waited patiently as the countdown began from forty-five in English. This was it. Time to blow the shit out of another Black Angel. This would likely be six down, and eleven bastards to go.

Everyone just listened as the loudspeaker counted down the final few numbers: "10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! We have liftoff!"

And with that, the thrusters ignited, carrying the two giants into the sky. To the eye watching from below, it would seem they were going slow, but then realize that they were moving at astounding speeds as they flew up higher and higher.

Within about two minutes, the EVAs had breached the exosphere of the planet and were now officially in space. The thrusters were designed to be able to carry them for another twenty minutes before disengaging.

Ritsuko now came on the com. "Okay you two, we're going to remotely activate your EVAs. Just try to relax yourselves, and follow basic activation procedures."

"Roger," said the two in unison.

And thus, the two waited patiently as the technicians prepped to active the two EVAs. Trying to concentrate, while under the stress of the G-Force that was still outputted from the thrusters was not an easy task at all.

But patience indeed won this struggle, as Evangelion Units 05 and 06 were activated and under the control of the pilots. Once they had control, they opened the wings of the E-type equipment, and with the continued assistance of the thrusters, sped off towards the comet.

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Sprint Canada Satellite

A hooded man watched as the two Evangelions sped off towards the comet that intended to destroy the planet. Somehow, any sensors could not detect that he was standing on the satellite watching these events unfold.

"Ah, so they really think they have the perfect plan to defeat Nebuchadnezzar," he chuckled aloud. "But then again, if I were one of those pathetic humans, I may have considered the very thing myself."

He continued to watch as the sight of seeing the EVAs was getting harder and harder to see against the Black Angel. "If only you kids really knew what you are up against. There is much more to Nebuchadnezzar than meets the eye."

In a change of subject, he took out a cell phone and dialed a number into it. A few rings could be heard before he heard someone answer. The man went right on the offensive. "Do you have any idea how close you were to blowing your cover?" He takes a few seconds to listen to whatever the party on the other line before talking again. "I'm only going to say this once: If something like this happens again, you'll be the next one to fight the Evangelions!" And with that, he hung up and put the phone back in his pocket.

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A few hours had passed since takeoff. Since Zack and Elly could no longer use the thrusters, they had to use the E-type equipment to fly towards the Black Angel. They could see it and it seemed so close, but in reality, it would likely be another few hours before they even came within range.

Ritsuko could hear the two chatting back and forth over the com. Usually she would not like causal chat over the com, but with how long this was taking, she decided to let it slide this time. Boredom due to everyone waiting for the two to successfully fly to the Black Angel was beginning to set in, as some were reading books, others quietly listening to music, and even Ritsuko was losing herself to a magazine she had brought over from Japan.

"Losing yourself to boredom, are you?" It was Misato, and she seemed rather cheery.

"Well, look around you Misato," said Ritsuko. "I'm not the only one. And the interesting part hasn't even happened yet. Speaking of which, how come you're not so bored?"

"Because I just called home," replied Misato. "Maya said the kids are staying at NERV because the commander requested that they do so. Ivana is at the firing range, and Shinji and Asuka are both taking a nap in the barracks. And Rei's recovery is doing well."

"Somebody homesick?" teased Ritsuko.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well why else would you call home? Unless you were homesick or worried about the kids."

Misato hung her head down in defeat. "Okay you got me. I am kinda bored. And I wanted to check on the others to see how they were doing. And I heard rumours that they may have found the Eighth Child. And I mean the actual Eighth Child."

"Really?" asked Ritsuko, as this was the most interesting thing she had heard in the last two hours. "Do the commanders know who the Eighth Child is?"

"Unfortunately no. Maya said that's all she knew. You'd have to ask Commander Ikari or Fuyutski when you get back."

2 and half hours later

"Okay Misato, I think we're coming up to it," said Zack over the com. "Damn, that thing's getting close."

"Well look at this way," replied Misato. "It's moving faster than you guys are. So land on it, blow it up, and you'll be home before you know it."

Ritsuko now interjected. "You two had best be ready. You're likely to experience both extremes of temperatures while landing. Your plugsuits will regulate the temperature as best you can, but be ready for anything."

"Understood," replied Zack and Elly in unison.

"One more thing," put in Ritsuko. "The gas and dust surrounding this comet is very dense, meaning that once you get inside that dust/gas barrier, your com may fizz out with us. So be ready for that. Also, watch out for meteors from within the tail of the comet."

"We'll be careful," said Zack.

"Like he said," replied Elly.

Everyone watched as the two EVAs moved closer to the comet. Unit 05 and 06, once they got within range, began a counterclockwise orbit around it. Like Ritsuko said, there were smaller asteroids indeed in orbit around this large body of rock and ice. Zack and Elly had to fly around a lot of them, with Elly almost getting smoked by a few small asteroids.

"Elly…be… areful," said Ritsuko.

"You're breaking up. I can barely hear you," Elly shot back.

"Never mind Elly," interjected Zack. "We knew this was going to happen. Let's focus on flying, and leave the bitching to them."

"Okay. Do you know what we gotta do next?"

"Yeah, once we get to the tail, we fly inwards. This way, thanks to the dust and gas barriers, we'll have some shielding from the sun while we work. Then we'll work on blowing this rock to hell."

And so the two continued on their course. And according to their charts, they had arrived at the tail of the comet. And as Zack instructed, they began to fly inwards. It was difficult to see, as they had to continue their contention with small asteroids. And the gas and dust made visibility lower than usual. They may not be the brightest of folk, but with sheer determination and some EVA skills, Zack and Elly had successfully navigated the tail of the comet and could see its layout from the inside. It looked like they thought it would. Something like a barren wasteland that one would see on Earth.

They descended slowly, looking for the best spot possible to begin their drilling project. Once they agreed on a spot, they continued to descend towards it. It was an open spot they picked. One could be able to see all around them quite well. Zack and Elly did not know what was on this comet for sure. Sure this comet was the next Black Angel, but something with a landscape like this could be breeding grounds for lesser demons and anything else that planned on making Zack and Elly's life a living hell.

"Alright Elly," started Zack as he placed the N2 mine inside the drill and armed the bomb. "I'm gonna be the lookout for anything else that may be prowling around, you focus on drilling. Got that?"

"Got it." Elly sure didn't mind letting Zack be the scout. Between the two of them, he was definitely the better fighter.

And so began the drilling. Whatever type of rock this surface was made of, it seemed fairly easy according to Elly. Probably because that the comets out there were a mix of rock and ice. Drilling through rock was tough, but the friction created from the drill could help melt the ice, thus taking away from the problem slightly.

"Say Zack, how long until this comet strikes the Earth?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that. But at the current speed it's moving at, I'd say two hours," replied Zack as he had a look around the comet, making sure nothing was out there to surprise them. "But this should only take an hour or so. We got a state of the art drill, and it's got a bomb in it that'll blow this bastard to kingdom come."

And within the hour, they had finished drilling it into the comet deep enough. And thus, they decided to make their break for it. This wouldn't give them too long to escape.

"Okay, here's the plan," said Zack while they flew back into the comet's tail. "We fly for about forty-five minutes, and then Dr. Akagi will detonate the N2 mine, and use our AT Fields to defend ourselves from the debris. Got it?"

"I do," replied Elly. "But how will we survive the blast?"

"That's the luck factor kicking in," answered Zack. "Let's keep flying!"

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NERV HQ Florida

"Comet will enter the Earth's atmosphere in thirty minutes," reported a technician.

"Any sign of Units 05 and 06?" asked Misato.

"The Hubble Telescope hasn't located anything yet coming from the comet's tail," replied another technician.

"Well what are we going to do if they don't emerge in time?" was another question from Misato.

"Then we use the remote beacon we have here, and detonate the bomb," was the cold answer from Ritsuko. Before Misato could respond, the false blonde spoke again, "They knew the risks of the mission Misato. But our priority is to defeat the Black Angels. And they knew that they may die doing this if they don't escape the explosion. But we can still hope that they'll escape."

Misato was getting more worried as each minute passed by. As much as it would have to be that the kids' lives be sacrificed if they couldn't escape in time. Soon it was twenty minutes till the detonation would commence. That equaled five minutes for them to escape.

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"C'mon Elly, we can make it!" called out Zack to his girlfriend who was following him. They flew for what seemed like forever, and they still hadn't escaped with minimal time remaining.

"Zack… I… can't do it," replied Elly. "I'm only holding you back. Go on… and don't worry about me," her fears about letting him down getting the better of her. She had brought Unit 06 to a halt. Zack could see tears were beginning to stream down her face.

"Elly, I'm not leaving without you," said Zack boldly, stopping Unit 05 to talk to Elly. "You've done phenomenal so far. We're either gonna die together, or we're gonna survive together. I love you Elly. And if you want to stay here because you think escape is futile, then I will stay too. If you think we still got a shot, then let's go for it. Either, way, wherever we go, we're going together. So what's it going to be?"

"Zack…"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go piss off Asuka!" declared Elly.

"That's the spirit! Let's get the hell out of here!"

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"One minute to detonation," muttered Misato to herself. Still no sign of those kids. Perhaps they died trying to escape already. Or maybe they were trying to beat the clock. "Please hurry…"

The countdown had begun at thirty. Misato by now could no longer look, and had begun to hide her face in Ritsuko's coat.

The doctor knew how Misato was feeling. Completely helpless. And that feeling had overwhelmed her friend. But regardless, she had to give the order… "Detonate the N2 mine…"

On the screen, was the comet, which did not change for about a minute, before it was consumed by a massive explosion. The whole screen went white for about thirty seconds before a visual could be seen. There were chunks of debris here and there. For the most part, the comet had been completely eradicated. But the worst part was, there was still no sign of the kids anywhere. They had indeed completed their task but at the cost of their own lives.

"Jesus Christ Misato! We're ya trying to burn our asses off?"

"What?" said a shocked Misato. "Who said that?"

"I did! Damn you were cutting it close!" A visual came up on the screen. It was Zack and Unit 05. And he seemed alive and well.

"Nice try Doc!" A visual of Unit 06 and Elly came up. "You tried to kill us and you failed!" Now her and Zack were both laughing. This got everyone else laughing too.

Once Ritsuko had finished laughing, she got serious again. "Alright guys, I'll tell you the landing procedure now…"

"Look out Zack!" Elly suddenly said.

On screen, everyone watched as Unit 05 was pushed by Unit 06. Suddenly, Unit 06 was hit by what looked like a fireball.

"AAAAHHHHH!" the pink haired girl screamed before passing out from the pain.

"What the hell? Elly!" said a worried Zack as he saw Unit 06 smoking from the seemingly deadly attack. Looking where he saw the fireball come from, his face was a combination of shock and anger at the sight he saw. "Impossible…" he muttered.


	58. Dimwit vs Demon

A/N: Ah, back once more for the 58th round. I'm glad I got you guys and gals with me, reading into the final frontier. However, not everything is good news. First off, do not send any requests as to whom the Eighth Child should be. I've already made my choice and that is that.

A/O/N: Zack and Elly managed to blow up the comet which appeared to be the Black Angel. But something came out of nowhere and injured Elly. Now Zack is all alone against whatever is still out there…

"_What's the status of the Seventh Child and Unit 06_?" asked Ritsuko

"_Pilot is alive, but has suffered severe trauma to the upper chest area. Her vitals are in serious danger!_ _She's on the borderline of a cardiac arrest!"_ reported one technician.

"_Her brainwaves are destabilizing!_

"_Reroute all power to the life support system!"_ ordered the doctor. _"Give her a heart massage now!"_

At the doctor's command, the technicians issued a command to Unit 06. As a result, a quick charge went through the LCL of Elly's entry plug, making the pilot's body jump for a moment.

"_Pilot's vitals and brainwaves are stabilizing now," _reported a technician. _"The EVA has landed on a fragment of the comet which is now moving in a lunar orbit around the planet."_

Misato didn't need to be told that whatever had attacked Elly was the Black Angel. She probably assumed that the comet itself was nothing more than the demon's armour. Unit 06 had landed on a fragment of the comet that was now in orbit around the planet after it was hit by the attack, its pilot unconscious.

Unit 05 on the other hand, was now in a standoff with what appeared to be the true form of the 6th Black Angel, its true identity been previously concealed by the comet. The Black Angel in question, was probably about as abhorrent as the Angels were in Misato's mind. In contrast to the green EVA, the skin of the Black Angel was red. It appeared to be bulkier than Unit 05 was. Where most of the body minus the forearms and forelegs were red, it appeared to have a large black chest plate to protect where one would assume its core was. One arm had what looked like a long black blade below the elbow, whereas the other arm sported what looked like a black cannon below the elbow. The head was black, and it reminded Misato of a wolverine. And to top it off, huge red wings were spread out, approximately fifty percent longer than its complete arm span.

"_So you're one of those Black Angels," _said Zack. _"What exactly are you trying to do?"_

In response, the demon gave off a high-pitched hiss. And for some reason, Zack and Unit 05 in sync began clutching their heads in pain.

"_Ack! What the fuck are you doing?" _screamed Zack as he felt like something was attacking his mind. But then it came to him. He could suddenly hear a voice in his mind

A fourth time… 

_It happened three times before…_

_Thrice it failed to end mankind…_

_We will do what God cannot…_

"_Unit 05's pilot's brainwaves are going crazy?"_ said the chief technician. _"It's going to breach his ego-borderline!"_

"What's going on?" asked Misato feeling a little left out of this chaos due to the language barrier.

"That Black Angel is attacking his mind somehow," replied a frantic Ritsuko. "It's something similar to the 15th Angel, only it's attack is invisible to the eye!"

"Casanova! Attack!" ordered Misato. "Don't let that thing fry your mind!"

Zack struggled, as the beast kept repeating the same lines in his mind. However, he managed to draw his progressive sword. _"You're going down you son of a bitch!" _ he yelled over the voices in his mind. With a roar from the thrusters of the E-type equipment, Unit 05 charged forward at the Black Angel.

Knowing that the EVA was about to attack it, the Black Angel opened its wings and flew up, dodging the incoming stab from Unit 05. Using its gun arm, it shot more fireballs at Zack.

With the mind attack removed, Zack could fully concentrate. He saw more fireballs coming towards him. Quickly he raised his AT Field, deflecting the blasts. Then he flew up after the demon, sword drawn and ready to take action. The Black Angel noticed this, and prepped its blade arm for melee combat.

Zack knew a bit of Kenjutsu, which was what he planned to teach Elly and maybe Shinji and Toji, and he hoped that could help him take on this bastard that dared harm his loved one. From a faraway view, one could see that the two were clashing blades very quickly.

Ritsuko observed this battle carefully. She had noticed that Zack's sync had spiked since the start of this battle. He usually floated around the low to mid-seventies in terms of sync levels. However, since Elly had gotten hurt badly, his sync had gone up to his personal best of between 88.7 and 89.09. The doctor hoped that Zack would remember what happens

The Sixth Child continued what was a ferocious assault. Zack would attack from left to right at its shoulders. But as easy as it would be for anyone else to block, the demon was having trouble keeping up with this chaotic wave of attacks.

As Zack went for a 360-spin cut, the demon flew up again and shot again at him with a fireball. Big problem was, Zack wasn't ready for a counter offensive, and took the shot in the upper chest.

"_FUCK!" _ he screamed, swearing in English. The pain he was feeling was immense, as the blast felt like it set his entire upper chest on fire. He looked at the demon that now lowered himself down to his level. The Black Angel may be able to see the EVA's eyes, but it would not be able to see Zack's eyes. His eyes were usually full of joy, and always seemed to be waiting in anticipation for a prank or a wisecrack. But now, the only feeling those emerald eyes showed was hatred. He grinded his teeth together to try to ignore the pain, and flew at the Black Angel.

Elsewhere, the man who had been watching the comet getting blown up by Zack and Elly was now watching this fight with great interest as he stood on a satellite orbiting the Earth.

"Ah, it's difficult to forget the excitement of a one-on-one duel," he said. "It is easy to understand why it even gets the lowly humans on the edge of their seats. I can't help but enjoy every minute of this."

"You really must be an evil person to take joy out of other people's suffering," called out a calm voice.

The hooded man turned his head sharply towards where he had heard the voice. Standing on the other side of the satellite, was another human shaped individual. This person who had the appearance of a teenage boy, was wearing gray pants, white sneakers, and a white t-shirt. But he showed no signs of freezing from the absolute temperatures of space. However, the most distinguishable things about this individual were not that he had gray hair, but his red eyes that looked like they could see through another's soul. And to top it all off, he was sporting a gold ring a few inches above his head. It was Tabris, known best by Shinji as Kaoru Nagisa, the 17th and last Angel in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"Ah Tabris, so good of you to join us. Well somebody has to cheer for the EVAs." The man let out a chuckle. "But you must understand that you are in no position this time to manipulate events as you did while you were alive."

"I do not need to manipulate anything," replied Tabris as he turned to view the fight. "The events are already being set in motion, with or without my interference. Things are going as God plans it too, as through me and then through Shinji, humanity was given the chance it needed to survive. You must realize that your actions are only postponing God's will. A lowly Angel cannot halt His will. And especially one as low as you. And I know He will see to it that you will fail."

"Don't make me laugh," replied the hooded man. "These human beings have had thousands of chances to turn towards God. But have they? To a small extent, I may admit yes. But on a large scale, no. Some even hate God and forsake his flawed teachings. That is why they turn away from him and seek out new destinies that they themselves will forge."

"I see you still have your ignorance about you," said Tabris. "Thus is why you were cast out of Heaven so very long ago." Now was his chance to chuckle. "You may not be able to comprehend this, but I feel you must know so that there is even a narrow hope of redemption: you may try to initiate your plans, but there is no doubt in my mind that you will fail." And with that, he faded away.

"We shall see Tabris, we shall see…"

Elsewhere…

"What hit me?" muttered Elly, as she slowly awoke from her previously unconscious state. As she tried to raise her EVA to her feet, a stab of pain coursed through her upper chest. "Oww!" she moaned. She looked up. Up there, she saw her love, Zack trying his best to hold his own against the Black Angel. But she had a sense that wouldn't hold on much longer.

Despite the pain she was in, she paged a call to Dr. Akagi. _"Doc? You there?"_

Everyone else was so busy watching the fight that they had somewhat stopped paying attention to Elly once her vitals had stabilized. Dr. Akagi quickly switched the com over to Elly. _"Elly. How do you feel?"_ she quickly asked.

"Can you cut down my sync ratio mate? Maybe it'll stop my chest from feeling like it's on fire!" 

At Elly's request, her sync was cut down to 40. _"Okay Elly, we've cut your sync down, so it won't hurt as badly. And we've routed power back to your combat functions."_ Said Ritsuko. _"But you need to really concentrate to use the E-type equipment. Now go help Zack."_

Elly finally managed to raise Unit 06 to its feet. With a roar, Unit 06 took off after the Black Angel. Drawing her progressive sword, and remembering what Zack taught her, she zoomed in.

Zack on the other hand, was now on the defensive. That one injury had hurt him bad. He figured he could move fast enough to parry the Black Angel's attacks, but would not be able to resume an offensive assault as he usually did. His limited knowledge of Kenjutsu was not helping very much. If only an x-factor came into the equation, could come Zack's chance to attack once more.

And as he blocked the next attack, he saw it out of the corner of his eye. And apparently, the demon didn't notice it. So Zack decided to lure the beast into a trap. As the Black Angel tried to push Zack's sword into him, Zack waited as long as he could, and the shouted, _"NOW!"_

With a surge of strength, he pushed the Black Angel away, creating some distance between them. It seemed confused for a moment, only to not know what hit it next. Unit 06 slammed into its side with a body check and then slashed at its side with its progressive sword.

"_Elly! Are you okay?"_ asked Zack.

"_I'm fine mate!" _replied Elly. _"Now I know why you Canadian hockey players love to hit! That was fun!"_

"_Well Elly. Let's finish this bastard off so we can go home,"_ said Zack.

"YEAH!" 

And with that, the two pilots sped off after the Black Angel. The demon quickly found itself surrounded, and parrying two attacks at the same time. After suffering a few slashes from both EVAs, it backed off.

"_I think we're getting him,"_ declared Zack. _"It's getting nervous."_

"_Let's keep going!" _said Elly who started to roar after him again. Sword in front of her, she went straight for the overhead cleave, trying to force him to move. She remembered to control its central line, as it would mean controlling the battle. As a result, it moved to her right and out of the way.

"_AHA! Now you're mine!" _the Australian boasted. However, she didn't realize she was being led into a trap. But she saw it too late. She saw the left arm come up, and it was pointed right at her.

Zack could only watch as the Black Angel shot off both her wings, one shot to the EVA's chest, and another to the face. As he went after the two, he could hear Elly's screams of pain over the com.

Right as the demon was about to finish Elly off with its blade arm, it was suddenly shot by something. It looked to its left to see Zack with a pellet pistol out, emptying its rounds into its body. As it roared out in pain, Zack wasted no time in delivering a drop kick to its body, propelling it our deeper into space.

Once the Black Angel was out of the way, Zack quickly tended to Elly. _"Elly are you okay? Speak to me!"_

"_Zack… I'm sorry…" _she struggled to say over the pain.

"_Shh. Just relax. It's okay. You're going to be okay," _said Zack. Quickly thinking, he opened up a com to Ritsuko. "Doc, can you sedate Elly? There's no way she can fight anymore. And if she gets hit again, I have my doubts she'll be able to handle it. I'm gonna have to wing this alone."

There was a silence for a moment, before the blonde replied, "Understood. Increase the LCL pressure to sedate the pilot of Unit 06. And reroute all power to her life support system."

It took a few moments, but Elly's tense breathing turned into a calm rhythm. The Sixth Child took this chance to move Unit 06 to a fragment of the comet still floating around. He laid it down on the rock. _"There you go Elly. You did great today. More than I could ever ask of you. So just rest for now. You've earned it, and I'll see you again when this is over."_

He heard a sound coming from behind him. It was the Black Angel. Likely recovered and back to retaliate for what Zack did a few minutes ago. Zack looked at the Black Angel with even more hate than he had before. 'What is the purpose of these Black Angels? To cause nothing but suffering? Everyone we've come across who associates with these things only end up suffering in the end. And now this thing has made Elly, my love suffer. I'm gonna destroy this thing!'

Looking at Unit 06, he noticed something. Elly's progressive sword. At this sight, Zack's face went from hatred to a wicked confidence.

At the command center, one technician was shocked at the results he saw. _"Doctor Akagi! You better come see this!"_

"_What's the problem?" _the doctor asked as she looked over the technician's shoulder.

"It's Pilot Harper's sync. It's reading 100!" 

The Black Angel noticed the green and pink EVAs were on a rock. The green one's back was to it. So it decided to take this chance to attack while they weren't looking. Pointing its cannon at the two EVAs, it fired a shot in hopes of finishing them off.

However, it did not expect what happened next. Almost immediately after it fired a shot, Unit 05 jumped up and roared after the Black Angel at alarming speed. Unit 05 noticed the fireball coming, and covered the sword with its AT Field. With one swing, the attack was easily deflected away. However, this time, Unit 05 was holding two progressive swords.

Zack was swinging both swords wildly. The Black Angel was indeed having difficulty deflecting this new barrage of chaotic attacks. Unit 05 would make some slash attempted, only then to attempt a flip or a spin slash. Zack at first kept his attacks repetitive, but then made a change in his patterns. It would attack with the left, than the right while spinning to the left to come back around and swing with the left, only to come back the other way with the right hand sword. The Black Angel managed to block all four attacks. It expected a fifth attack to come from the other side. But it was wrong. Zack decided to complete his second revolution and it was a stab with his left hand, successfully catching it right in the right eye.

As the Black Angel tried to backpedal in the pain it was in and bring its arms to cover the wounded eye, Zack took this chance to slash at its arms, successfully cutting off the blade arm and gun arm. The Black Angel began to bleed furiously from the serious injuries.

"Now die you bastard…" muttered Zack before screaming, "Z ULTIMA!"

It had no chance to defend itself from the psychotic flurry of slashes coming from the green EVA. Off went its arms, blood spewing out of them and into space. Next went a leg, only causing the demon to scream in more pain.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Zack as he thrust a sword into its mouth, and then stabbed at the chest plate. With the maxed out sync ratio, the sword went through the chest plate, and into its core. With a final roar, it lit up and then exploded.

Everyone watched on, as Unit 05 emerged from the explosion, unharmed by it at all. They watched as Unit 05 picked up Unit 06, and proceed towards the planet to enter its atmosphere.

Ritsuko didn't even get the chance to tell them the procedure. But then again, perhaps it wasn't necessary anymore, as Zack's sync was still at maximum and his AT Field was protecting both him and Elly who was unconscious in Unit 06. Once they both landed outside NERV HQ in Florida, everyone gave a rousing cheer, and they had successfully defeated the Black Angel, and both pilots returned home in one piece.

"_Whew,"_ said Zack. _"I don't wanna do that again for a long time,"_ he muttered before passing out from exhaustion.

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Zack didn't want to wake up at first, but eventually, he decided to finally awaken. He felt someone holding his hand. So he turned to see who it was. Turns out it was his guardian, Misato. He assumed he was in a hospital judging by his surroundings. "Hey," he muttered. "So if you're here, then I must've won right?" he asked as he struggled to sit up.

Misato mirrored his smile. "Yes you did Casanova. You won the battle. And best of all, you kept your promise to Elly and myself." She wrapped him in a hug. "I'm so proud of you Casanova," she said through choked tears.

"I'm so proud of me too," replied Zack.

"Hey Misato! Don't crush him till there's nothing left of him!" called a voice from the hospital room door. Both pilot and guardian looked to see who it was. It was Elly, who then jumped immediately into Zack's arms when she got the chance.

"Well it's good to see they're doing well," said Ritsuko as she entered the room. "I say give them a day or so to recuperate, and we can go back to Japan."

Misato decided to give them some time alone with each other once they started kissing, and motioned for Ritsuko to leave as well. 'Some things never change,' she thought to herself. 'I wanna go see Kaji…'

A/N: And that ends the battle against Nebuchadnezzar! Next time, we'll see many funny things. Things such as something coming back to haunt Zack. But is it what he thinks it is. Also coming up soon is the introduction of the Eighth Child. And best of all, the long awaited Gendo Ikari vs. Coach Thunder battle for the Heavyweight Bastard Champion of the World! Until 59, be cool!


	59. Battle of the Bastards

A/N: And here we are again. This time we're back on earth after our trip into the final frontier. Well I'm not too sure where my typing will go this time, other than Somewhere. But somewhere, something HUGE is gonna go down, and you'll enjoy it… I hope. Also… WOOT! 500 REVIEWS! YEEEHAAAAA! I never thought I'd get that far. I remember when I first set my original goal of 100. Now I have a new goal. 1000! Anyways, I present Chapter 59!

Warning: One racist term used. Apologies in advance.

For once the Katsuragi residence was tranquil, and no fighting whatsoever. Perhaps it was because two of the three noisy residents were currently in America, licking their wounds over the battle with the 6th Black Angel. However, things were just fine as they were.

It was the morning after the alert had finally ended. And things were going smoothly. Just yesterday, Shinji, Asuka and Ivana under the supervision of Lt. Maya Ibuki returned to Misato's flat. Maya seemed to be more easygoing than Misato and was prepared to do whatever they wanted to do. But to her surprise, the kids made her feel like a guest. Maya assumed they were just out to spite Misato, but she didn't mind.

Shinji was doing up French toast for breakfast, with coffee brewing in the coffee maker. Ivana was getting dressed after coming out of the shower, and Asuka had just gotten in the shower. Maya was reading a newspaper, and Pen-Pen was inhaling fish like he always did.

As she read the newspaper, Maya noticed there was a section regarding the 'threatening comet'. It read that the comet's physical structure was too weak to sustain itself despite its size upon atmosphere reentry and it fell apart from the heat into small harmless meteorites. Maya smiled, as she quickly understood the message under this cover-up. Zack and Elly must have succeeded in destroying the Black Angel.

"Breakfast is almost ready," reported Shinji who was making sure he got the bread pieces just right. "Would you like some coffee Lt. Ibuki?"

"Shinji, you don't need to call me that," replied Maya. "Plain Maya is just fine, at least outside NERV anyways." She showed him a smile, "But sure I'd like some coffee. Double-double please."

Just then Asuka came out of the room, towel wrapped around her body. "Ahh that felt good. First morning in a long time without Casanova's idiocy present."

Ivana could only frown. "But from what I hear, Zack and Elly are quickly recovering from their injuries and they'll be back in Japan come nightfall."

"You just HAD to say that!" said a now frustrated Asuka who stormed into her room to get changed.

Ivana picked up a magazine, "Well it's the truth. She may as well at least brace for that idiot Canuck."

"But then again, not knowing for the moment could help her retain her peace for the moment," put in Shinji.

"As they always say, ignorance is bliss," said Maya.

That got a few chuckles all around. "Ah, breakfast is ready," declared Shinji a few moments after, "How many slices do you all want?"

"I'll have two please," said Maya.

"Three is fine," answered Ivana.

"Four!" shouted Asuka from her room.

"WARK!" clucked Pen-Pen.

And with that everyone sat down to eat once Asuka had gotten dressed. Shinji, like Ivana had three slices on his plate.

"Say Asuka, do you think it's alright for your figure to be eating four slices with all that syrup on it?" asked Maya who had taken note of how much syrup Asuka had used.

"What's wrong with that?" shot back Asuka. "Coach Thunder is going to run our asses off again like he always does, I'll burn those calories off so fast, that it all gets cancelled out." She gave Maya a triumphant look. "I have everything all planned out before it happens."

"Will you be saying that when you get pregnant?" said Ivana suddenly with a grin on her face.

"What was that supposed to mean?" asked Asuka, blushing insanely.

"Exactly what it sounded like," laughed Ivana after seeing the blushes on Asuka and Shinji's faces, and a look of surprise on Maya's face.

"Wow. I guess it is a good thing Misato and Zack aren't here, otherwise the gloves would be off," said Maya who resumed eating. Once she swallowed, she continued talking. "Well, I have to get going over to NERV soon. I heard they may choose the Eighth Child today."

"Do you know who the person is?" asked Shinji.

"No I don't," answered Maya. "But whoever it is, will be piloting Unit 07, the EVA that Kirishima had originally stolen." Once she finished, she saw the frown on Shinji's face, "Oh I'm so sorry I brought that up."

"No worries," answered Shinji with a sigh. "It wasn't like she gave me a choice in the matter."

Asuka and Ivana had already gotten their things ready and were waiting for Shinji. "Come on slowpoke," complained Asuka. "I don't wanna be late!"

"Oh don't worry Asuka," interjected Maya. "I'll give the three of you a ride to school."

And with that, they were led out to Maya's new car. She had recently purchased it with the bonus she had received from Commander Ikari for Rei's successful surgery. It was a black 2016 BMW, modified for Japanese drivers. The three teens eagerly climbed in the near luxurious vehicle and drove off to school.

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Gendo Ikari's Office

"So, has the letter been sent?" asked Gendo Ikari, as he and Fuyutski sat in his office.

"Yes, our candidate in question has received our letter. Our agent also provided the candidate a temporary clearance card so it is possible to gain temporary access to NERV."

"Good," replied Gendo. "I have other businesses I must attend to today. I trust you and Dr. Akagi can handle this interview."

"Of course we can conduct this interview," said Fuyutski. Eyeing his former student as he was walking out of the room, he asked, "And may I ask what kind of business you'll attending to?"

Gendo paused a few moments before speaking, "Doing something I should have been doing a long time ago… my fatherly duty." And with that he walked out.

So now Fuyutski was sitting in Gendo's chair. After a quick adjustment to the chair, he discovered he was being paged over the phone. "Yes," he answered. After listening to the person on the other line, he then opened up the security recordings so he could see just outside NERV HQ. There, he saw the candidate in question, and the guard who had called him waiting outside. "Very well, access granted. Escort the candidate to the boardroom. The meeting will be conducted there."

After hanging up, he dialed another number into the phone. "Dr. Akagi, the interview will begin very shortly. I'll see you in the boardroom."

Fuyutski himself got out of the chair and proceeded to the boardroom.

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School

Once Maya had dropped the trio off, they all went to do their separate things. No one knows where Ivana went. Shinji assumed Asuka went looking for Hikari. So, that left him looking for his two friends, Toji and Kensuke.

It probably wouldn't take him that long to find those two. They seemed to be mostly isolated from the rest of the school, being two of the Three Stooges, with Shinji being the third.

"Yo Shinji! Over here!"

Shinji turned to the direction of the voice. It was Toji. So Shinji went over to him. "How ya doing Toji?"

"Just fine I guess. Kensuke's not here, so there wasn't much to talk about. Anyways, how was Lt. Ibuki? Was she hot? Glamorous? You got to spend the whole night with three women! Tell me about it!"

"Toji! It wasn't like that! You know Asuka wouldn't want to share me with anyone. And I wouldn't go after anyone else either!"

Toji kept going, "But still, how was she up close? I bet she's younger than Misato! Ripe and ready for picking!"

"Toji! It wasn't like that at all!" yelled Shinji.

"Just relax, I was kidding!" Then he remembered something, "Gotta go Shinji! I remembered I challenged someone to an arm wrestle this morning!" And he darted off.

'That was weird,' thought Shinji. 'Was that all he wanted to ask me? And he says he's not a pervert...'

Another voice called to him, "Hi there."

Shinji turned around, to see a girl trying to talk to him. But then for a moment, he wondered what Asuka would do if she saw him talking to another girl. However, another thought in his mind told him it would be rude to just ignore this blonde haired, blue-eyed girl trying to talk to him. So, finding a quick compromise with himself, he decided to talk to her, but at the same time keep a fair amount of distance and immediately refuse any potential advances.

"Uh, hi."

Elsewhere, Asuka was ready to give up. A frustrating ten-minute search of the school found no trace of her best friend anywhere. This was bizarre indeed. Where could she be? Last time she saw her which was at a shelter during the 6th Black Angel, she didn't appear like was sick or anything. Perhaps she had caught something while she was in that shelter. Or maybe something else came up and she couldn't be at school that day. Sighing to herself, she decided to go find her boyfriend. Finding those Three Stooges should be of no difficulty. It would mean going across to the other side of the school, but at least it was a search she could do.

Suddenly, something went off in her mind. It was telling her that Shinji was in some kind of trouble. She quickly darted to the other side of the school. As she made it to the other side of the school, she gasped at the sight she saw.

It was Shinji, and he cheating on her with some blonde bombshell! Or at least that was the initial thought she had when she first saw them. But as she got closer, Asuka discovered this bombshell in question was advancing on him. And to Asuka's relief, Shinji was backing off, or rather he was backing off until he hit the wall.

"Come on Shinji. You're a cute boy. We could have loads of fun," said the blonde who had him cornered.

"No, please don't," begged Shinji, trying to push her away.

"Don't be shy. I'll make all your worries go away."

"Seriously, I'm saying this for your safety!"

"What do you mean?" asked the blonde. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to look at a very, very, angry redhead.

Two minutes later, Shinji and Asuka were walking to class. Shinji's face was neutral, while Asuka's had a big smile on her face as it she was the happiest person in the world.

"Err Asuka, was that really necessary?" asked Shinji.

"I believe it was. It sends a clear message, so she'll be leaving you alone for a LONG time if not forever. And besides, you need to learn how to back away from a girl. Something else I'm going to have to teach you," said Asuka triumphantly. She took Shinji's hand in her hand, "Now let's get going to class. I want to enjoy the day without Casanova or his bitch!"

Five minutes after class started, the janitor would never forget the story of how he found a crying blonde haired girl with blue eyes stuffed and locked into an empty locker.

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NERV Hospital

Another day was coming and going for Rei. She felt like her recovery had increased ten-fold since Shinji had come to see her. A part of her felt happy at the fact that she could be released soon from the hospital once she was able to walk. She remembered the other times she had been… happy. There were a few times such as those few times with the Commander, or that one time that Shinji told her to smile.

Suddenly, she felt an ugly feeling in her stomach. She was hungry. Rei quickly presumed that the nurses were so used to Elly making her something to eat that it was likely they had forgotten to bring her morning meal. She realized that she would have to go to the cafeteria herself. With her clearance she could get free food. But the problem was would she be able to walk? By now her mind had completely registered with her body but she questioned its strength to get her there. A thought in her mind told her she had to try, otherwise miss the morning meal.

Slowly moving her body, she swung her legs around till they dangled off the side of the bed as they touched the cold floor. The coldness of the tiled floor sent a few shivers but they passed. One could see that she was only wore a hospital issued gown with the blanket aside. Next, she sat herself up, as she was able to do before when Shinji came to see her. She told herself, she could do this. Using the side of the bed as support, she did the difficult task of bringing her fifth body to its feet. Her legs were shaking quite a bit from the weight of her body, but she was determined to overcome this difficulty. Removing her hands from the bed, she faced the doorway of the room. And she took one shaky step forward. The result of the one step almost made her legs buckle under the weight, but she didn't fall. Once she was ready, she took another step with similar results. But she was ready for it for every step after. She took slow careful steps as she steadied herself for the next. It was one careful step after another.

Finally, she had brought herself into the hallways of the hospital. That alone already had her almost completely worn out. A voice in her mind told her not to give up, and that she could do this. Using the wall to support herself, she slowly made her way down the hallway.

Other side of the building going towards the cafeteria

Ritsuko stretched her arms out as she walked through NERV's corridors. The meeting had turned out to be quite productive. The candidate was somewhat nervous at first, probably because being in the most secretive facility in the world could probably do that to someone. But the candidate did agree to give the position of Eighth Child a try, and thus would attempt to activate Unit 07 tomorrow afternoon. So Fuyutski was to relay the message to Commander Ikari to receive the documents from NERV in England to officially grant Japan the rights to use Unit 07.

And as expected, after that meeting, she was rather hungry. And thus was heading to the cafeteria to get an early lunch before setting in to work. Commander Ikari was out on other businesses today, so work could be done, at a slow but steady pace.

But as the doctor was about to enter the cafeteria, she saw a figure on their knees on the ground, about fifteen feet from the cafeteria door, apparently the figure looked like it was trying to catch his/her breath. A glance at the figure's blue hair spoke enough for the blonde. "Rei!" she called out rushing to her patient's side, "What are youdoing out here?"

Despite her heavy panting from exhaustion, Rei was able to relay the story to Ritsuko as to why she was trying to get to the cafeteria. Without further hesitation, she helped Rei to her feet, and assisted her in getting to a seat in the cafeteria.

Rei watched as Dr. Akagi went up to the chef, speak a few words, and then come back. "Don't worry Rei, the chef will get you something to eat. As much as I'd like to stay, I have some people to deal with." And with that, she left the cafeteria. "And whatever you do, don't try to walk back until I come and get you, which will not be long."

As Ritsuko walked towards the hospital wing, she felt like a corporate suit with her planned intentions for the hospital staff.

"Somebody is going to be fired," she said aloud.

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McDonald's Parking Lot in Tokyo-3

Once more Gendo Ikari had spoken for the last hour with representatives from around the world. One thing that disturbed him, were suspicions that SEELE representatives maybe trying to integrate themselves into global politics. Which meant there could be influence on politicians at the UN not to vote for more NERV funding to combat the Black Angels. This only made the situation foggier than it originally was. After that, he had spoken with Fuyutski on how the meeting had gone with the potential Eighth Child. He was pleased with what he had heard. Gendo brushed off the candidate's nervousness as first time jitters. Once he was done, he had ordered his chauffer to drive to McDonald's for lunch.

After finishing off the Big Mac, fries, and cokehe had ordered from the fast-foodrestaurant, he resumed business. First at hand, was acquiring the documents for Unit 07's authorized use. Using the videophone his limousine had, he dialed in a number. Then he dialed in another number. Within a few rings, a brunette woman in about her thirties answered, "_NERV Headquarters England, how may I assist you sir?"_

Gendo then spoke back in English, "_I wish to speak with Commander Moorehead."_

Probably for clearance, he was asked a question, "_And your name please?_"

"_Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari of NERV Japan_."

The woman was shocked by the identity of the man speaking to her, "_I'm s-sorry for holding you up sir. O-one moment._"

And thus, the Supreme Commander of NERV, one of the most powerful and influential men in the world, had to wait, while listening some cheesy music called Tea and Crumpets that the English NERV base had for those on hold.

After about one minute of listening to this… crap, a visual finally came on screen. It was of a man, probably in his early forties, brown hair, blue eyes, and had a face that seemed full of energy. "_Ah, Commander Ikari. So good to hear from you._"

"_Likewise Commander Moorehead,_" replied Gendo.

"_First off, I wish to thank you again for stopping that SEELE operative who somehow hijacked Unit 07 a few months back. Besides that, I am intrigued by your call. What do ask of me?_"

Gendo got right to the point, "_NERV Japan may be the one holding Unit 07, and I'll mention we have repaired it from the battle it was in. However, to avoid complications with other politicians Moorehead, I wish to attain from you documents with your signature on it authorizing our use of England's Unit 07. We believe we may have found an Eighth Child, and we wish to have the child activate Unit 07._"

The English Commander seemed surprised, "_That's all? Even without my authorization I would have no objections to you using Unit 07. But you may be right though about everyone else thinking you will use other things without approval. I'll have the documents faxed to your office as soon as possible._"

"_Thank you. That is all then Commander."_ The two commanders saluted each other, and then the screen went blank.

"Chauffer," called Gendo to his driver. "Take me to the Tokyo-3 High School."

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Tokyo-3 High School

Every student in the gym class had reason to cringe at the end of the day. In fact every student who had Coach Thunder's gym class at any time of the day had reason to cringe. As such, Shinji, Asuka, Ivana, and Toji, the four EVA pilots still on the immediate active list were cringing. And with rumours that some kid, as stupid as he was had egged the American's car, had Thunder in a BAD mood. But then again, was he ever in a GOOD mood?

As he approached the waiting students, he boomed across the gym, "HEY DUMBFUCKS! GET YOUR ASSES MOVING! LAPS NOW! GO! GO! GO!"

The students groaned as they began their laps around the gym. But Thunder was indeed in a bad mood, "IS THAT MOANING I'M HEARING FROM YOU WHINY BITCHES?"

"No," replied the class in unison.

"GOOD!" boomed Thunder again. "NOW DO YOUR FUCKING LAPS AND NO TALKING WHILE I DO ATTENDANCE!"

This seemed fine for Asuka though, though she refused to voice it. Now she could burn off all those calories from the extra sugary syrup from this morning. Hopefully Coach Thunder wouldn't run them into the ground though, again.

"FASTER!"

Once everyone had run without stoppage for five minutes, he called the class over to the side of the gym. "OKAY! WE'RE DOING BASKETBALL DRILLS AGAIN! YOU LAZY BASTARDS DON'T HAVE THE FUCKING COMPETENCE YET TO PLAY A REAL GAME! SO YOU'RE GOING TO DO DRILLS EITHER TILL YOUR READY TO REALL HAUL ASS OUT THERE ON THE COURT, OR AS LONG AS I FEEL LIKE RUNNING YOU LITTLE SHITS!"

And so, everyone was doing basketball drills that day. From lay-ups, to free throws, the three-man weave. Shinji wasn't much of an athlete, and he really messed up on a lay-up he attempted to do, and the ball had hit the underside of the backboard and beamed him in the head.

"SEE WHAT FUCKING HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T PAY ATTENTION IKARI?" yelled the always angry coach, "HOPEFULLY THAT RATTLED YOUR HOLLOW HEAD A LITTLE BIT!"

Suddenly Shinji stood up, and glared directly at the gym teacher. "SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!" he yelled.

"WHAT WAS THAT? YOU SWEARING AT ME YOU LITTLE FUCK? YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE A STUDENT OR I'D RIP YOUR LITTLE JAP BODY IN HALF! GET YOUR ASS TO THE OFFICE AND PRONTO! AND THEN YOUR RUNNING LAPS AFTER CLASS!"

"You will do no such thing Shinji," called out a voice from the other side of the room. Everyone turned to see where the voice had come from. It was an older man; much older than Coach Thunder was whom a Section 2 agent was following.

"F-Father?"

"Everyone, against the wall," ordered Gendo. The other students probably didn't know who Gendo was, but he spoke with power and authority in his voice. Everyone quickly backed off. Now it was just Gendo and Coach Thunder in the middle of the gym.

"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE INTERRUPTING MY GYM CLASS?"

"I would tell you," replied Gendo, "But I doubt your brain could not process what I would like to tell you. However, I will say this, you are not to swear at these children, nor will you lay a hand on them as long as I am around."

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU LITTLE BASTARD? I RUN THINGS HERE! NOT YOU! MARCH YOUR ASS OUT OF HERE SO I CAN CONTINUE MY CLASS!" yelled Thunder.

"Some things are best left unsaid, but I think I had best tell you who you are dealing with," began Gendo, "I am Gendo Ikari, the Supreme Commander of NERV. And you will address me, and these children with respect. Or else."

"OR ELSE WHAT?"

"Or else the police will know everything about how you've been taking steroids for the past five years. And you would be spending a long time in jail."

Everyone was in shock at the revelations. And Gendo continued to speak with a grin growing in his face, "And now that all these children know, what's to stop them from blowing the whistle on you?"

"BEFORE YOU DO THAT…" Thunder began with his face turning psychotic, "I'LL KILL YOUR LITTLE BASTARD FIRST!" he ran towards Shinji with a baseball bat he suddenly brandished.

Right as Thunder was about to probably send Shinji's head for a home run, a blur suddenly came between the two. It was Gendo!

"If you wish to harm… my son. You will have to go through me first." Gendo took off his glasses and threw them to the Section 2 agent. Next he pulled two leather gloves out of his pocket and put them on. To the Section 2 agent he said, "Don't call for backup, I will deal with this ape myself."

The two eyed each other for about a minute. Then Thunder suddenly then took a swing at Gendo. The older man ducked, and threw a punch to Thunder's solar plexus. This made the bigger man bend over, for two uppercut style punches to his face.

Thunder staggered back, completely surprised by Gendo's speed. "If that's how you want to play," he said dropping the bat. "I'm going to enjoy this."

He ran at Gendo with amazing speed. Gendo sidestepped, trying to lead the bigger man away from the children. This was tougher than he thought. Perhaps it was just his age getting to him. He tried to block the American's punch, but it felt like his arm had almost gotten fractured it hurt so much. And then a punch to the face sent Gendo flying.

"Father!" Shinji called out, rushing to the man's side.

An arm however, went out in Shinji's direction, stopping the boy in his tracks. "I'm fine." Gendo rose to his feet. "Now you'll see why I was once the most feared bar brawler in all Tokyo-2."

Gendo then rushed the bigger man again. And once more, the two exchanged blows. Coach Thunder was shocked at Gendo's speed. He may have been older, but he was FAST. Thunder knew Gendo couldn't keep this up forever at his age, but he himself, could go as long as he wanted.

Now Thunder caught one punch, and then caught the other, and with tremendous strength, he lifted Gendo off the ground. And delivered one devastating kick to Gendo's midsection, sending the man sprawling and burning his suit on the wooden floor.

"AND SO THE MIGHTY HAS FALLEN," declared Thunder triumphantly. "AND IF YOU KIDS EVER MUTTER EVEN A WORD ABOUT ALL THIS, I WILL THROTTLE EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!"

"Harm even one student, and you will be locked in a cold, dark jail cell for the rest of your pathetic life." Everyone watched as Gendo slowly made his way to his feet. Everyone could see the man's suit was ruined, and that he had several cuts on his face.

"WELL IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR USELESS BAR FIGHTING CAN'T DO NOTHING AGAINST BRUTE FORCE!"

But to the man's surprise, something connected with the side of his face; Gendo was holding the baseball bat Thunder had dropped earlier! Dropping the bat, Gendo went in for a flurry of punches to the coach's body and face.

Gendo saw fear in the brute's eyes, before he finished him off with a nasty head butt. Everyone watched, as the brute that had tortured them day in and out for the last month and a half, collapsed to the floor.

At that moment, Gendo's senses began to return to him, as his fighter's instincts began to fade. And with it, came a lot of pain, enough to make him drop to his knees. However, he heard cheers from the other students in the gym, overjoyed with the fact their gym teacher who they thought was the biggest jerk ever just had his ass handed to him in a brown paper bag. Or rather, by a man who had passed his mid-life crisis.

Shinji quickly rushed over to his fallen father. Asuka followed suit. Both of them, gave the commander assistance in getting to his feet. "Call for an ambulance," Shinji said to the Section 2 agent.

"Make it a very high priority," put in Asuka.

"And call the cops too," finished Ivana.

"Yes sir! Yes madams!" The lone agent whipped out a cell phone and began dialing a number into it.

The two helped Gendo get over to a bench where the man could sit down. Also, Toji and a few other students had run to get the school nurse and some first aid.

"Why did you do that father?" asked Shinji once they had sat down.

"Just doing a… fatherly duty," answered Gendo. "I sure hope, you don't repeat my mistakes… urgh!"

"Hey you're old! Take it easy!" ordered Asuka. "Help's on the way!"

Within a short while, an ambulance had come to take Gendo to the hospital to make sure he was going to be okay. The police had come to arrest Coach Thunder on charges of assault, stating death threats, and attempted assault with a weapon. The class had given a standing ovation as the police had dragged the bastard out of the school.

Once the school day had ended, Maya had come by to pick the trio up and they all went back to Misato's flat. Dinner was rather simple. At Maya's expense, and her insistence, they had ordered two large pizzas for dinner. While they ate the pizzas, they conversed about a lot of things, such as the identity of the Eighth Child, which Dr. Akagi still refused to reveal the identity of, Commander Ikari's fight with Coach Thunder was the main topic of discussion though. After dinner, everyone went about their own thing, since it was the weekend and no curfew was in effect. Maya and Ivana were watching a late night soap opera, while Shinji and Asuka were beat for the day, and called it in at about 11:00pm.

"You see something new everyday, huh Asuka?" asked Shinji as the two lay on their futon, with Asuka on top of him.

"You bet. Never knew your old man was a bar brawler." She yawned loudly. "Fuck, I'm tired," she moaned, trying to grab as much of Shinji as she could. "Luckily I got Shinji, my human pillow," she felt a chuckle coming from him, so she continued, "and one I can kiss goodnight too."

Right as she was about to kiss him however, she heard the door open, and a male voice boomed through the entire apartment, "I'M HOOOOOOOMMMME!"

Asuka pulled the blanket over her head in disgust.

A/N: DING! DING! DING! And the winner, and still the Heavyweight Bastard Champion of the world, Gendo Ikari! And with the completion of this chapter, comes a new milestone: 200000 words! WOOT! Hopefully, let's hope the next 200000 are even better!

Until 60, be cool!


	60. The Eighth Child

A/N: Wow! Another review explosion! Even through 59 chapters, you guys still stick with me! Well I've decided I'm not going to hold back any longer. No I don't mean there'll be lemons. What won't be held back any longer is the identity of the Eighth Child, thus the name of the chapter. Here we go!

"You should've seen me! I was rocking up there in space while you were sitting on your ass on Earth hoping you would get some without Misato on watch!" Zack was wasting no time that morning bragging about his space victory over the 6th Black Angel. Everyone minus Rei was sitting at the table talking about the events of the past few days. Unfortunately, he was now teasing Asuka, which she did not like at all.

"What are you implying pervert?" shot back Asuka.

"Read between the lines college brat," said Zack.

Asuka's eyes narrowed, as she was already very angry, "Do you want to die quickly and painfully? Or slow and painfully?"

"Alright, that's enough," snapped Misato. "Just got back and you two are already fighting. If you two really want to fight, I demand that you wait until after the activation test today."

"Activation test?" asked Shinji.

"Yes. Today we're going to have the Eighth Child activate EVA Unit 07," replied Misato, "and just in case we have another incident like the 13th Angel, I want all of you to be ready to go immediately."

"Who is the Eighth Child Misato?" asked Asuka, "I wanna know!"

Misato crossed her arms, "Sorry. No can tell. You'll find out after the successful activation of the EVA."

The result was a simultaneous groan from everyone in the room. Misato's face brightened up as she continued, "But the good news, is that after the activation of Unit 07, Ritsuko is going to officially release Rei from the hospital!"

"Wow, that's great Misato," said Shinji. Luckily he didn't see the "humph" from Asuka. Since he didn't see it, he decided to break the silence. "Oh yeah, there's something I wanted to tell you Misato, and everyone here."

"That what, Wondergirl's your new girlfriend?" retorted Asuka who wasn't looking very happy.

"Whoa, that was harsh," put in Zack.

"What about me? What about all we've been through?" yelled Asuka. "You're throwing all that away just like that."

Shinji now got freaked out, but Zack defended him. "All Asuka, before you completely annihilate Shinji, let him speak first. Unlike Nazi Germany, Japan has democracy, and they believe in innocence till proven guilty." Everyone had pretty much assumed Asuka had jumped the gun. Hopefully they were right though.

"Fine," resigned Asuka, "but speak now!"

"I had a talk with Rei…"

"AND?"

"Asuka, let him finish before you decide to pummel him," interjected Misato.

Shinji continued, "and we've come to an understanding. I acknowledge her as my sister, and she sees me as her brother."

"WHAT?" everyone else said.

"Well, she has my DNA in her, so that makes her somewhat related to me," said Shinji trying to lower the confusion in the confused, "otherwise that would just be wrong on many levels."

"I see" Zack replied in amusement. "So right now we have a pair of Ikaris. All we need to do now, is get Asuka and Shinji married, and presto, three of a kind. Which happens to beat pairs in poker too."

"Idiot! Why didn't you say that in the first place?" yelled an angry Asuka, "you got me mad over nothing."

"Then don't be mad Asuka," said Ivana putting a hand on her shoulder, "he tried to tell you the truth. But unfortunately you jumped the gun."

Asuka sighed and rested her head in her hands. Suddenly she spoke, "Everyone except Shinji, leave now. I got something I want to say, and it's for Shinji's ears only. So out!"

"Fine. I don't wanna stay around with you anyways _bitch_," shot back Zack as he prepped to leave. "I'm going to NERV to see my princess. Good luck with yours Shinji."

"Fine, I'll go too," retorted Misato. "But remember to be at NERV by 4:00pm for the activation tests." Now her and Zack were gone.

"Behave you two," said Ivana as she got her shoes on. "We have plans for three Ikaris, not four. Four of a kind is an even better hand, but not in our case."

"Okay…" wondered Shinji aloud, "what was it you needed to tell me, and that the others could not be around to hear it?"

Asuka finally raised her head, " I just wanted to say that…"

"Sat that?"

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Shinji was surprised from Asuka's remark, err apology.

"Look I said it alright!" she was getting flustered again, "what I did was wrong and I needed to apologize for it!"

"I understand Asuka, calm down," said Shinji. He assumed that Asuka still had an inflated perspective of herself and to salvage her pride, she needed to apologize without the others present, "I forgive you. I understand that there is to some extent a rivalry between you and Rei. And I know you don't like Rei that much, with our relationship making her seem even more of a threat to you. But I want you to know that Rei does not despise you at all. In fact, I don't think there is anyone out there she hates, except maybe my father somewhat after what he tried to do with her."

Asuka brought her hands to her mouth. From Shinji's eyes, it appeared she was trying to hold in a laugh. She held it in for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. "When you… think about it…" she said between fits of laughter, "it's kinda funny!"

"I see," Shinji started to stand up.

"Sit right back down," ordered Asuka. I have something I want to give you. Once Shinji obeyed, she stood up. She walked around the table till she was standing behind Shinji. As Shinji began to roll his head back with curiosity as to what Asuka was doing. To his surprise Asuka leaned back the chair, with him still on it and planted her lips on his.

To a third person's view, they would see Asuka standing behind Shinji while leaning his chair back and kissing him with her face inverted to his. This third view came from Pen-Pen, who had originally come out of his icebox. However, the sight of Asuka kissing Shinji immediately told the warm-water penguin to wait until the fiery redhead had stopped locking lips with the brown-haired boy. The penguin quietly retreated back to his box.

The two continued to kiss for a few more seconds before breaking it off. "Wow, where did you get that idea from Asuka? That was awesome!" commented Shinji.

"Ah, I saw that in another Second Impact era movie," replied Asuka, "and I've always wanted to try that myself." She sat in Shinji's lap. "Consider yourself lucky Third Child."

And thus the Second and Third Children continued to make out.

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NERV HQ

"So that's what happened? Interesting."

"Yup. And now the Commander's been told to take a few days off." Ritsuko had just finished telling Misato her version of the story that hadn't been told by Shinji and Asuka about the commander's fight with their gym teacher.

"So what's Mr. Thunder being charged with?" asked Misato.

"From what I know, he's being charged with many counts of assault, attempted murder, attempted assault with a weapon, drug possession for the purpose of trafficking, assaulting an officer. And I bet there's going to be more, but the investigation is still ongoing," said Ritsuko.

"Ah," sighed Misato, "but then again, I'm glad that bastard is now behind bars. And it's funny that Commander Ikari actually stooped to do it himself. I always thought it would be Casanova or Ivana would just crack and fight."

Ritsuko chuckled, "Goes to show life can still surprise you at times."

"By the way, I have another question. Is Rei ready to be released from the hospital?"

Ritsuko took a puff of her cigarette before answering, "After the stunt she pulled yesterday. I think she's more than ready to go home. A few things you need to know though." She took another puff, "Number one is that she will not have the same powers she once had, but you knew that. Two is that she's still physically very weak. It will be a little while longer before she can return. I'll have an exercise program she can use to get back in decent shape. And number three is her outer appearance. It will begin to change within a few days or so. I don't know exactly how much she'll change, but once the process is finished, she'll look like a female version of Shinji."

"I see," concluded Misato who was now looking at Rei's medical chart.

"Now I have a question for you," Are the kids going to be ready for the activation tests later today?"

"I believe they will be," answered Misato, "but I'm a little worried about Shinji though. This brings back memories of the 13th Angel indeed."

"It's risky indeed," confessed Ritsuko, "but it's a wall we have to climb over eventually. Once we activate it once. It will be easier and easier in the future."

"Yeah," the Major sighed. A thought then hit her, "Hey do you know whom the Eighth Child is? I've heard lots of hype, but no one has said who."

"I sure do," said the doctor. She went over to her computer and typed in a few commands. She then motioned for Misato to come over, "Come and see."

Misato got out of her chair and walked over to where Ritsuko was sitting. She gazed at the image the computer was showing and gasped. "That's the Eighth Child?"

"That was the best overall choice of the ones we had," said Ritsuko, "and we only want the best to pilot the Evangelions. We even have the plugsuit ready."

"Ah, so it's all set then."

"Exactly."

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Elsewhere

"So Nebuchadnezzar lost too?"

"It is unfortunate indeed, but alas it will not stop us from accomplishing our goals."

Five people were sitting in a conference room. They were all of different heights and body shapes, but the thing that that all had in common was that they were all wearing black coats with hoods to cover their faces. The medium sized speaker who had a young adult male's tone had finished answering the question coming from the largest speaker.

"So now what will we do?" asked a third speaker, whose tone was that of a young adult female, "I'm sure Keel will not be happy about another failure."

"He is already in our grip," answered the second shortest speaker, who had a voice of an elderly man, "What's to stop us from telling the world where he is hiding?"

"Indeed, which is why he will continue to obey us," answered the young male. "I doubt he wants to live again. His life has been hell since the beginning, and we're giving him the perfect chance to end it. So he had best obey us."

"Which brings us back to our original question, which one will fight the EVA children next?" asked the tall one.

"Oh I know!" interjected the shortest one, who's voice was similar to a young boy's voice, "What about my special project?" He lifted a hand. In response, the room was given a visual. What they saw was a person, a male likely about fourteen or fifteen, floating in what looked like a tank of an unknown substance. "He's come a long way since we rescued him from imminent death. And we all know he'd want another crack at them. A certain someone especially."

"As we can see though, his injuries have not yet fully healed," said the woman, "I question whether or not he is still capable of piloting Unit 10."

"Mentally, he can do it. Physically, is still undetermined," replied the child. He faced the medium sized man, "Master, I wish for your permission to begin the preparations to unleash Project V upon the world."

"Permission will be granted, but not until I decide whether he is medically fit for combat. But I assure you, Gendo Ikari and his band of brats will eventually face the Russian Reaper."

After a good laugh all around, the five figures eventually vanished except for the smallest of the five. He walked up to the tank to observe his patient. "Ah, I can sense your thoughts young one," he said to no one apparently, "but save your strength. You will need it for when the time comes. Then you can take your revenge on her, and destroy everything she holds dear, like how she once held you in the same regard and betrayed you in the end."

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EVA Test lab

Fuyutski was in the middle of a break he was taking. Well it wasn't really much of a break, due to the fact that he had left his paperwork for a while to take an examination of the repaired Unit 07.

He remembered the serious damage it had taken when a SEELE operative had managed to hijack it. And that it took Shinji tapping into unknown wells of power to disable the giant yellow machine of destruction. Now looking back at it, it had changed quite a bit. Gendo had decided a new colour was in order for Unit 07, lest it remind Shinji of that fateful battle he had fought. It was now primarily orange, with yellow being the secondary colour. It looked very similar to the Unit 02 model designed by Germany, as also was the Unit 05 model made in Canada.

Later today, he would oversee this EVA's activation. It would have been Commander Ikari doing this, but the doctors said he should avoid work for a few days to nurse the injuries he had suffered while trying to relive his glory days fighting some school brute. Should it be successful, and then another EVA pilot could be added to their current lineup, and just one short of matching the EVA Series.

The only thing preventing this from happening now, was time. The activation was scheduled for four o'clock. And it just passed noon now. A part of him wanted to just snooze until the test was ready, but that would mean the paperwork would not be completed.

With a grunt and a sigh, Kozou Fuyutski returned to his office.

4 hours later

"Okay kids, you know the drill,": ordered Misato. "We're going to begin conducting the activation test now. The reason you're here on standby, is that we're activating the EVA using the S2 Engine, and I hope I don't need to tell you why."

"Why Misato?" asked Zack.

The Major took a deep breath before answering, "Let's just say there's risks involved. I thought you already knew that."

"No I didn't actually," retorted the Sixth Child, "Now I wonder what important info I missed."

"Anyways, should there be no accidents, and this EVA either activates or not at all, you seven will be dismissed for the day. Clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" the pilots reported in unison.

"Good." Misato, always in fine form when in a battle-ready situation, whipped out her cell phone, and paged the test lab. A few seconds passed before she spoke, "Yes. They're good to go. Commence the activation of Unit 07 when you're ready."

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From a third person's view, one could only see the shadow of a person. Another shadow comes into view. "Are you ready?" asked a voice that belonged to Ritsuko. One shadow extends an arm. "Good. These are the A-10 neural clips you will be using to link with the EVA. Just remember to open your mind once you're inside. That's the best piece of advice I can give to you from the outside perspective. And another thing, it will feel a little strange at first, but you'll get used to it. Now go, and good luck."

The second shadow, reaches out and apparently puts on the accessory. It then walks away, presumably to where Unit 07 awaited its pilot.

Ritsuko then walked back into the test room where Fuyutski awaited, "How are the kids doing?" she asked.

"They're doing well, and Shinji as expected is a little on edge," was the Sub-Commander's reply.

"Commander," called Maya, "upon your orders, we'll commence the activation."

"Okay. Open up a window to the pilot." In front of him, a window opened up, providing a visual of the inside of the entry plug. "Are you ready?" When he got the nod from the subject, he continued, "Good. Alright, commence the activation."

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EVA Cages

"So, anyone want to make any bets on whom the pilot is?" asked Zack who was bored and looking for something to do.

"What's the point?" inquired Shinji. "We don't even have the vaguest idea as to who the pilot is!"

"For all we know, this pilot could be from anywhere," said Toji.

"Well obviously, this pilot knows Japanese mate," put in Elly. "Heck, when I went to NERV in Australia, they taught me Japanese."

"Otherwise you'd be just another monolingual bimbo!" said Asuka.

"Hey I didn't get the 'talk' at least," chirped Elly, "Only naughty kids get the talk!"

"Shut up you pink headed bitch! At least I got someone like Misato who gives a damn about my well being!" shot back Asuka, "You're likely gonna lose 'it' before me!"

"Would the two of you just shut up?" boomed Ivana in a rather threatening voice.

"Well now that you've joined the conversation," started Zack, "do ya hope that the pilot is from Russia, and then the two of you could plot to turn Japan into a communist country?"

"If you wish to live past tonight, you'll never say that again," retorted Ivana. If one looked closely, they would have seen a flash of pain in her eyes. But luckily for her, nobody saw this brief feeling.

"Hey listen," Shinji suddenly said changing the subject.

They could hear the activation process somewhat. They didn't really understand what the technicians were saying as the activation process was commencing. But judging from the tone of those on the other side, it must be going as planned, as nobody was in a panic. To Shinji, this was all sounding like good news, as he had no interest whatsoever to have to fight another EVA with a pilot trapped inside.

However, what he heard next was one of the best things he had ever learned in his life, "Borderline in 1.5, 1.4, 1.2, 0.9, 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.3, 0.1," then he heard a sound from the computer before a technician said, "Unit 07 is now activated."

"Woohoo!" shouted Zack, "We don't have to fight today! WOOT!"

Misato then came in on the com, "Yup, that's right. No fighting today. And also no fighting when we get home too. Come to the briefing room to meet the new pilot."

The kids got out of their EVAs, returned to their change rooms, got themselves cleaned up and dressed in near record time to show up in the briefing room.

Misato then entered the room, "Ah, you all decided to show up."

"Okay, come clean," said Asuka, "Who's the Eighth Child?"

"Very well," replied the Major. She turned to look behind her through the doorway opposite to the ones the kids had come in, "You can come on out now."

And thus, the person in question had emerged, the veil of mystery and ignorance finally unveiled. The sight of the person in question surprised everyone, especially Asuka and Toji's, whose jaws dropped. A girl with brown hair tied into two ponytails, and an average build for a girl of about fifteen years old.

"No way!" said a surprised Toji.

"Hikari? You're the Eighth Child?" asked Asuka.

"Yes I am," answered Hikari, "If anyone can keep these guys in line, it's me!" she finished with a wave of confidence.

A/N: Well, this may not be my best work, but at least the identity of the Eighth Child is revealed! Hikari Horaki! Let's give her a warm welcome into the EVA lineup. And the cloaked people are up to something too, as they plan to unleash a deadly weapon upon the world. Who is the Russian Reaper? I don't even know! Now that's scary indeed.

Until 61, be cool!


	61. The EverChanging Rei and a Movie

A/N: Oh man. Just when I was just getting over Chapter 59's explosion of 30 reviews, you guys and girls did it again to me by slamming down another 30 reviews! What happens today! Read now and find out!

Next day…

"So how does it feel to finally be home Rei? We sure missed you a lot," said Misato.

"I feel… good," was Rei's first response of the morning.

It was the very next morning since they had all learned the identity of the Eighth Child, which was Asuka's best friend Hikari Horaki. And on that very same day, Rei was also officially released from the hospital. And everyone was curious to see what physical changes her body would undergo. Everyone was sitting at the table after breakfast and the entire spotlight was on Rei at the moment.

"Gotta say though, that the lavender coloured eyes are definitely an improvement from the red eyes," stated Zack, "Now people won't be terrified of you and the eyes." Looking at Asuka he made another remark, "Unlike someone, regardless of eye colour."

Misato was quick to interject to stop another potential fight from breaking out, "No fighting you two. I don't get why you can't just get along."

"He's a bastard!"

"She's a bitch!"

"Whatever," muttered Ivana, "I say let them go at it. As long as they are both in this household, there will never be stability."

"What do you suggest Ivana?" asked Shinji curiously.

The Russian smiled, "In order to have stability here, one must triumph over the other, whether it be Asuka or Zack. As long as they both coexist here, we will never have peace."

"Well I wouldn't like it if Asuka were to fall," said Shinji.

"So that would cause instability on Shinji's part should Asuka lose," put in Rei.

"So that means one thing, Casanova is the problem!" declared Asuka.

"Good problem solving guys!" cheered Misato.

"You guys are no fun," muttered Zack. "Anyways, I'm out for now. Laters." And with that, Zack got his shoes on and walked out the door.

"Okay, maybe we were being a little harsh," said Shinji.

"He'll live," replied Misato. She then turned to Rei, "By the way Rei, Dr. Akagi said you will have to do some exercises to build up your body's strength. And you'll have to stay home for at least another week till you can handle things at school on your own."

"I understand," answered Rei. "What kinds of exercises?"

"All sorts," said Misato, "Yoga, tae-bo, aerobics, pumping weights, cardio etc."

Ivana was reading one of the guidebooks on lifting weights; "I can help you to train properly with weights, since I go to a gym every so often."

"Even better Rei, and Ivana is really strong too."

Asuka then interjected, "Oh Misato, I'm going over to Hikari's. Gonna teach her how to be a great EVA pilot. And who better than to learn from the best, like me," she said proudly.

"I thought Shinji-kun was the best," replied Rei.

"Well Shinji doesn't know a thing about aggressive tactics. And anything he learned, which he learned well, came from ogling over me and my phenomenal skills!" shot back Asuka as she stormed out the door.

"Someone's in a grumpy mood this morning," sighed Misato. She then remembered something. "Oh shit, she already left."

"What's wrong Misato?" asked Shinji.

"Oh I was going to get you and Asuka to go get some groceries. We're running low again," the guardian answered. "Hey I got an idea! Ivana can go with you instead! And she's much stronger than Asuka is." She whipped out her list, "In that case, you can grab this and…" she continued writing more stuff down.

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Aida Residence

We make a very rare appearance in Kensuke Aida's house. He's currently working on trying to get into NERV's databases with the desire to learn of its forbidden knowledge. And so far, the recently upgraded security measures prove to be far too difficult for our young Stooge to tackle.

"Goddamn, this isn't fair. My two best pals get to go around the most secretive place in the world, and they won't tell me a thing about what it's like inside. This isn't fair!" he slammed his fist on the desk.

Kensuke then remembered something. He recalled the conversation he had with Toji two days ago. Toji had heard rumours that NERV was going to select someone else to pilot one of its Evangelions. This thought made him glow inside with excitement. Hopefully someone from NERV had noticed his desire not only to pilot one of the greatest pieces of technology ever created, but a chance to serve his country. Which to him, was the greatest honour he could ever dream of.

"Kensuke! What are you doing?" It was his father calling him from the other side of the house.

"Just playing a war game on the computer!" was the reply from the second of the Three Stooges.

"You're not trying to hack into NERV again are you?"

"Of course not! I've learned my lesson!" lied Kensuke… again.

"Good. By the way, your friend is on the phone."

So Kensuke closes the hacking program and goes to answer the phone, "Hello?"

"Yo Kensuke, how ya feelin?" It was Toji.

"I'm feeling better now," replied Kensuke, "So do you know who NERV is going to select to be the next EVA pilot? I just gotta know who the new pilot is!"

"Yeah. I just found yesterday. They chose Hikari to pilot the new EVA!"

"WHAT? HIKARI'S THE NEW PILOT?"

"Uh, yeah," answered Toji. "It's Hikari alright. And she seems fired up about it too."

"WHY HER! I'M THE ONE WHO WANTS TO FUCKING PILOT! IT'S NOT FAIR!" To be honest, Kensuke felt like ripping his hair out at the moment. His one dream, denied to him once more. Passed over for those who had normal lives that had originally nothing to with NERV. After Toji, they had selected some girl from Russia, another from Canada, one from Australia, and now Hikari.

"Yo man, chill out!" said Toji. "Believe me, being an EVA pilot is not all the fun you think it is."

"You think that because you didn't want to be one in the first fucking place!" Kensuke yelled into the phone again. "I want to be a pilot! I'd do it under any circumstance either!"

"Calm down buddy," Toji tried to cool the temper of his friend, "I'm only piloting EVA so I can protect those I care about. I did it originally so my sister could get better health care. But I found a better purpose. To protect all my friends and family from forces who threaten to destroy us." Toji was surprised at his own words. He seemed to be acting intelligent for the first time, "As fun as it may look, it's far from it. You remember what it was like for Shinji in that thing. You could tell he hated it. But he found a better purpose other than his own desires which would probably be to never pilot EVA again. I hate those things too, but I'd never forgive myself if I turned my back on a chance to defend those I care about."

Since Toji heard nothing but silence, he continued, "Look Kensuke. I know you may not like it that you didn't get chosen. Instead you should consider yourself lucky. You don't have to live out a nightmare or live under the threat that the very thing you hope will do as you say suddenly turn on you."

"Toji… GO AHEAD AND PLAY EVA WITH YOUR FRIENDS! GO AHEAD AND LEAVE ME IN THE DARK! IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF FUCKING TIME BEFORE YOU AND SHINJI ABANDONED ME FOR EVA!" he slammed the phone down on the cradle and ran into his room where he sulked over… this… humiliation.

Little did anyone notice that a person wearing a hood over his or her head was sitting in a tree outside Kensuke's apartment complex. This person had overheard Kensuke's entire conversation with Toji, and seemed to take interest in the boy's angst at being passed over for being an EVA pilot.

"Hmm. Interesting indeed," said the hooded person, whose voice was that of a woman.

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Streets of Tokyo-3

Ivana and Shinji were now on their way back to the apartment with the groceries that Misato had requested them to buy.

"Thank God you had some extra money Ivana," said Shinji, "otherwise we'd be having some trouble on our hands."

"Typical Misato," replied Ivana, "Absolutely fearless and full of flawless strategies on the battlefield, yet she can't do her own taxes or manage her finances at home."

This got them both laughing for a bit. Then Ivana asked Shinji a question, "By the way Shinji, when it's just you and Asuka, what is she like? Because unfortunately, she's really only shown one side of herself, and it's not a very nice side, yet you two stick together through thick and thin. So when that pervert or Misato is not around, what is she like?"

Shinji seemed slightly surprised by the question. But nonetheless, he answered, "Well she's still somewhat the person we all know. But when Zack or Misato isn't around, she's a very different person. She can be sweet, caring, and has the capability to think of others before herself."

Ivana chuckled, "Now that I gotta see one day. Asuka thinking of someone other than herself. And I guess you treat her the same way, almost like a princess."

"More or less. I'm like the princess' butler who she's in love with," joked Shinji, "And I guess that means Prince Kaji is off romanticizing whoever Misato would be."

"The Queen of the enemy kingdom."

This had them both laughing again as they continued their trek home. But now it was Shinji's turn to ask a question, "Ivana, have you ever been in love with anyone?"

This question caught Ivana completely by surprise, and she just froze. Silence passed for a few moments before Shinji spoke again, "Ivana?"

Ivana quickly snapped out of it, "No need to worry about it."

"Is something wrong Ivana? Is there something you don't want to talk about?"

The Russian took a deep breath before giving an answer, "All right. I asked you a personal question, so it is only fair that I answer your question. Yes I did love someone at one time," she conceded.

"Back in Russia?" inquired Shinji.

"Indeed. Our relationship was much like yours and Asuka's. Including belonging to NERV. He was probably the only person I ever truly loved."

"What happened? You were then called to Japan breaking you two apart?"

"No, unfortunately," said Ivana sadly. "That's what I wish would have broken us apart should we have broken apart. During our time in Russia, he left me for a new love."

"Who could he love more than you? You don't seem so bad."

"Power. He lusted for power. And that is what he left me for. Power was what eventually made him rotten inside and out. He betrayed the person he once was, for the one he had become. And power was the one that then turned on him in the end and it killed him."

"Oh I'm so sorry Ivana…"

"Don't be," Ivana cut Shinji off. "He got what was coming to him. And I hope he burns in hell for what he did."

"What did he do?"

Ivana sighed, "I'm sorry. It's a sensitive subject. Do you mind if I stop here?"

"No not at all," said Shinji. "When you're ready to talk further about it, you can."

"Thank you comrade."

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"One! Two! Three! Kick! One! Two! Three! Kick! One! Two! Three! Kick!"

"Come on Rei, try to keep up!"

"I'll try!"

Misato and Rei decided to start off with a tae-bo workout to begin the day. With Zack out, Asuka at Hikari's, and Shinji and Ivana out bagging groceries, now would be a nice time to start Rei's workout program. And so, with a quick change into some gym shorts and a white t-shirt, and a video provided by Ritsuko, Rei's workout began. Just so Rei didn't feel alone, her guardian felt a workout could do her some good too. Misato noticed by now that Rei had full control of her body movements, but she still could tire out very easily.

"Okay, that's enough," panted Misato after about 25 minutes of non-stop working out, "drink some water and just sit down."

So both albino and guardian sat down together both panting and drinking water together, "Wow, I haven't done anything like that for a long time," said Misato, "How do you feel Rei?"

"Tired," replied an equally panting Rei, "That is all."

"So Rei, have you thought of doing something with your life?"

"What do you mean?" Rei apparently didn't understand the question.

Misato clarified for her, "I mean, after NERV and the Black Angels, and whatever else comes after them. What do you want to do with your life?"

"I do not know. I have never given any thought to it," answered Rei.

"Well maybe you should," said Misato, "There's a whole world of things out there you can do. You just need to find something that interests you, and you can pursue that interest. And maybe you'll even find a nice boy you like on the way."

"Shinji and Asuka in their merged state said something similar to that too."

"See? We all want the best for you. Shinji especially. Your little brother wants you to go out there, and see the world and find your place in it."

"I see."

"By the way," started Misato who now changed the subject, "your skin is starting to look darker. I think your albino features are starting to disappear."

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3 days later - Ritsuko's office

"Definitely. The albino aspect is definitely disappearing," said Ritsuko. Misato and Rei were at NERV HQ for a checkup on Rei to make sure everything is disappearing. "So are you using the exercise programs I prescribed?"

"Yes," answered Rei, "It's tiring on my body."

"Well that is to be expected," replied Ritsuko, "But as you keep doing the workouts, it'll get easier and easier as you go along." She walked towards a desk, which was about fifteen feet away from Rei. "I want to test something though." She produced a stuffed ball. "I'm going to throw this at you. Block it with your AT Field."

"Understood."

The doctor then threw the ball. Rei appeared to try to concentrate to project her AT Field, but she could not, and the ball harmlessly hit her in the upper chest area. "Ah, as expected it's getting hard to use your AT Field. I'm going to throw the ball again. Concentrate a little harder."

She threw the ball again at Rei. This time Rei did as the doctor suggested, and the ball bounced off a suddenly projected barrier about eighteen inches around Rei.

"So you can still use it." Ritsuko then made a few notes on Rei's medical charts. "But as I said to you before, you will eventually lose the ability to use the AT Field like you do. It will get harder and harder until the point where it becomes impossible." She then turned to Misato, "I want her back here again in three days. Probably while the others are doing their sync tests on Saturday."

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2 days later

"I don't see why this couldn't wait until tomorrow Misato," said a slightly flustered Ritsuko. "And so early in the morning too."

"Oh you'll see why the entire household thought something had goen wrong with the surgery. Come on in Rei."

When Rei walked in, it definitely made Ritsuko jump for a moment. Quickly regaining her composure she then spoke, "Well Misato, this is why science is never higher than 95 percent. I'll do some tests though to make sure there's nothing wrong." She motioned to Rei, "Come with me for a moment. I just want to take a few samples."

"Understood."

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Tokyo-3 High - Rooftop

"Mein gott, what the fuck is wrong with your stooge friend Shinji?" said a slightly frustrated Asuka, "He's been ignoring us all week, hasn't made any insults to me, and he's not even eating lunch with us."

"He got really bent out of shape over not being picked for EVA according to Toji," replied Shinji, "He doesn't answer any phone calls he or I have made to him, and whenever we try to talk to him at school, he tells us to fuck off."

Asuka and Shinji decided to spend their lunch today on the roof of the school, away from everyone else. Apparently, the current topic was whatever the hell was wrong with Kensuke Aida. Many people had tried to talk to the guy, and to no avail. Kensuke had almost started a fight with Zack after the Canadian chewed him out for being a selfish, self-centered prick just that day too. So now everyone was ignoring him.

"Well I think you should just ignore him."

"Why's that Asuka?" asked Shinji.

"Well… he's shown his true colours, that's why," answered Asuka; "The guy's more obsessed with EVA than anything. I would kill to find out how he would have done against the Angels, Kirishima, the EVA Series, or any of the Black Angels. I bet he'd be so excited to be in the entry plug, that the Stooge would act like an over obsessed teenager on ecstasy!"

"I see. As much as I don't want to believe you Asuka, I have to admit you're right."

"See? Even you agree. At least Stooge Number One isn't crazy about EVA, and I think he has something of a noble cause, to protect Hikari, now that's pretty much presented to him on a silver platter since she joined NERV."

"So I guess we're still the Three Stooges huh?" joked Shinji, "With me being Stooge Three."

"Not so sure anymore," said Asuka. "Stooge Two is MIA at the moment." She then changed the subject, "And what's up with Wondergirl? That was sure weird this morning. Like what did they do to her in that operating room?"

"Well, nothing goes perfectly, even surgery can go wrong I guess."

"Look, Wondergirl and I may not be on the best of terms, but she's gonna end up being a social outcast in no time now with how she looked this morning!"

"For all we know, it could be just a side effect of her surgery. It will likely go away. And her eyes are darkening too. Soon they'll look like my eyes," replied Shinji.

"Yeah, yeah."

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A little while later at NERV HQ

"Well the preliminary reports show there's nothing wrong," said Ritsuko as she brought Rei out of the examining room.

"So what is the problem then?" asked Misato.

"Maybe it's a small glitch in her genetic design. From the examinations I've done, she's in no danger. But this… glitch will complete its course, currently from what you see."

Misato looked at Rei. Her azure hair looked odd indeed. From the roots of her hair, you could see it had begun the process of turning brown, but at certain points on her hair roots, her hair colour had not changed. "So she won't have pure brown hair then."

"She'll have brown hair, but strangely enough, there will be azure streaks in her hair too. I looked at her eyes too, I see no problem with her eyesight. It's just the hair." Ritsuko made a few more notes, "So despite today's 'hairy' episode, I'm giving Rei a clean bill of health."

"Alright, thanks Rits," said Misato as she helped Rei into a wheelchair.

"No problem. By the way, are you up for hitting a pub tonight?" asked the doctor. "I was going to bring Maya and the others too, we could all have some fun tonight."

"Sorry," was Misato's reply, "I promised I'd accompany the kids to see a movie tonight."

Ritsuko's eyebrow went up. "Better not be one of your movies."

Now Misato's eye was twitching, "Of course… not! They want to go see a horror movie!"

Ritsuko laughed for a few moments, "Relax, I was just kidding! Elly was talking about this movie too. What's the name of the flick?"

"Birth of Flesh. It's supposed to be as scary as hell."

"In other words, as scary as Misato on her period with a bunch of noisy kids."

"HEY!"

On the way out Misato spoke again, "Oh my gosh, what am I going to do about your hair Rei?" said Misato aloud. "Everyone's going to wonder why your hair looks like that at the movie theater."

"I suggest something to cover my head with then," answered Rei as she wheeled along beside Misato.

"Hmm, that will work perfectly."

Scene shifts back to a close up of Rei, then the background fades into Misato's car. Everyone minus Zack was in the car, as he planned to meet them at the movie theater with Elly, Hikari and Toji.

"Okay, I have only one rule," said Misato, as she drove, "NO fighting with each other period. Any fighting and you'll suffer the consequences. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" all other parties in the car replied.

"Good. And you all know your jobs for when we get in.

"Popcorn," answered Shinji who sat in the back.

"Drinks," replied Asuka who sat in the middle next to Shinji.

"Tickets," said Rei, who was sitting in the front passenger seat and was wearing one of Zack's baseball caps to cover her hair. It was a red hat that said right on the front in English, '_Canada kicks ass_'.

Misato quickly interjected, "Don't worry Rei, I'll get the tickets. You'll be in the wheelchair until you get your strength back. And Ivana, you know what I want from you."

"Seats," declared Ivana with a smirk who sat on the other side of Asuka.

"Good and secure the front row," said Misato, "and remember that this is supposed to be a 'scary as hell' movie, and I am also paying for the snacks and tickets. So if you run out of the theater because you get scared, your punishment will be to walk home."

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At the theater

Zack had a few words for the three people he was with. "Remember that this is supposed to be a 'scary as hell' movie, and I am also paying for the snacks and tickets. So if you run out of the theater because you get scared, your punishment will be to kiss my ass after the movie."

"How gross," grumbled Hikari, "I still can't believe I actually agreed to come to this movie."

A quick nudge from Elly reminded Hikari why she actually got dragged into this movie plan. To end up in Toji's arms by the end of the movie. The movie 'Birth of Flesh' would likely scare the hell of out anyone, and Hikari would probably jump into Toji's arms to look away from the creepy scenes. And if he was the chivalry styled man, he would hold and comfort her. Crude, but Elly said it would work.

"So the others should be here shortly," said Toji.

"In a minute or so," replied Zack. "So any word from Kensuke?"

"No. He's still bent way out of shape," replied Toji with his head down.

"Ah well," sighed Zack, "this movie would scare the living shit out of him, and then he'd have to kiss my ass afterwards."

This got them all laughing silly until Misato and her squad of kids arrived. "Okay, we're all here!" she declared. "Now let's see how scary this movie is."

Once inside, they all sat in different sections of the theater. Zack and Elly decided to take the back row. Since Asuka wanted to be nowhere near the two, she dragged Shinji five rows down. Ivana, Misato, and Rei preferred the front row as it gave Rei wheelchair access. Toji and Hikari took the top left corner of the theater to be away from everyone else. The movie however, was as scary as could be. Whoever made this God forsaken movie spared nobody and no expense when it came to creating the scary scenes the movie had to offer. It was a zombie movie, that involved zombies wishing to become human again. And they did so by literally harvesting live organs, which they integrated with their own bodies. Anyone who had a weak stomach or scared easily was quickly darting out of the theater.

Rei was taking the movie in stride. Sure she flinched a few times, but was not what people would determine as frightened. Ivana was enjoying every bit of the movie. Contributing to her desensitized state would be her times on the battlefield. As for Misato, nobody could tell how terrified she was of what she was seeing.

Zack got rather spooked at times, but he hung in there. Elly was flat out frightened. Most of the movie, she buried her face in his chest, and she did especially at the gory scenes. Well what kind of person wouldn't, unless they were indeed desensitized?

Hikari probably had the shit completely scared out of her, and probably spent most of the movie looking away from the screen. Toji was pretty scared himself, as he didn't look at the screen that often either.

But the strangest of them all went to Asuka and Shinji. They still had a sense of rivalry between each other. Both of them refused to look away from the screen, and at the same time were equally terrified of the movie's graphically gory scenes.

What really was the downer was that this movie lasted an irritating three hours in length. And everyone was determined to go the distance. By the time the movie had started, there were about 125 people in the theater. By its end, there were only thirty-one people left.

"Oh my god, that was scary," said Zack as they all walked out of the theater, "I bet that movie scared off the critics too!"

"All you all right Hikari," asked Asuka as they strolled into the lobby.

"NO! That was really scary!" the brunette replied as she subconsciously grabbed Toji's arm. Everyone noticed that this happened, especially Toji himself. This was also surprising since Hikari never really displayed much affection for someone in public. No one decided to say anything though.

"Where is Misato?" asked Rei who now rolled up in her wheelchair.

"I thought she was with you mate," answered Elly.

"She was, but she disappeared," said Ivana.

"Hi guys," a voice suddenly called out. It was Misato.

"Where have you been?" asked Asuka glaring at the blue haired guardian.

"Oh I just had to use the little-girls room," said Misato, her eyes moving back and forth.

"In other words, you ran out," retorted Zack.

"I did not!" shot back Misato.

"Then why did you disappear one hour before the movie ended?" asked Ivana.

"Uh…"

"YOU CHICKENED OUT MISATO!" they all said together!

Misato had a look on her face that said 'Busted!'

"So you have to walk!" declared Zack.

"Fine, but since I can't drive, and NONE of you are old enough to…"

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"Dammit! This sucks!" yelled Asuka into the night. "Why do we all have to walk?"

"Fate is cruel Asuka," teased Misato.

"Shut up!" roared the German.

So the five of them, which also included Ivana, Shinji, and Rei who was being pushed in her wheelchair by Shinji, were now walking home from the movie theater. Zack had called for a tow truck to tow Misato's car to the apartment complex. At the moment, he was currently escorting Elly back to NERV.

"So Misato, do we have a sync test tomorrow?" asked Shinji.

"Yup," said Misato. "First thing tomorrow."

The others gave a big sigh. There went Saturday.

Late that night, while Shinji was trying to get some sleep, he heard something stirring. He didn't take long to figure out it was Asuka. He assumed by what she was saying in her sleep that she was having a nightmare.

"No… leave me alone… help me Mama…" she mumbled in her sleep.

Shinji quickly sat up, knelt over her and began shaking her in an attempt to wake her up. "Asuka! Wake up!" he whispered as loud as he could.

It took about ten seconds, but with her sudden sit up which almost took out Shinji as she did, she returned to the land of consciousness, breathing heavily as she did.

"Are you alright?" asked Shinji, "You looked like you were having a bad dream."

"It was scary. I dreamed the EVA Series had come back," replied Asuka. "They looked like those zombies in the movie. They ganged up on me, and picked me and my EVA apart, and used my body parts and innards for themselves. I felt like I was dying again…" she finished before wrapping her arms around Shinji and quietly sobbing.

"Shh, it's okay Asuka, it was only a dream," said Shinji as he consoled her. He continued to hold her snugly, moving his hands up and down her back in an attempt to calm the frightened girl down. When that didn't seem to work, he tried something new. It was a long time ago since he had heard this, but it was time to try it to soothe Asuka. He began to hum a lullaby he remembered his mother used to hum to him when he was a baby and had difficulty sleeping.

It appeared to work, because her whimpering turned into rhythmic breathing. As Shinji laid her back down, he could tell she was sleeping, and he could swear that in the dark, her lips were curving into a smile. He quickly kissed her tender lips once before laying back down beside her.

A/N: I could just end it here, but we would be leaving out what had happened to our other terrified people. End it here? Nah!

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What had happened with Zack and Elly - NERV HQ

"_So you going to be all right_?" asked Zack as he had escorted Elly right to her room at NERV HQ.

"_I think so_," said Elly as she unlocked her door to walk in. "_Come in for a minute_."

Zack obeyed as he walked into her room. It wasn't very big at all. One bed, a bathroom, a dresser with a mirror on it, a table with two chairs, and a television set was all she really had in here. "So what else do you want to do?" he asked as he sat down in one of the chairs.

Elly didn't answer as she selected a pink nightgown from her closet. She quickly slipped out of her clothes until she only had her pink bra and matching underwear on, which still revealed the fact that she had a phenomenal body for someone her age, not to mention her breasts were bigger than Rei's, and they were actually real.

"_A little fan service as a thank you for the walk home_," she started as she slipped on the nightgown before slipping under the covers. "I have one last favour though."

"_What would that be_?" asked an impressed Zack from looking at her sexy figure.

"_Could you stay here until I fall asleep mate_?" she asked pleadingly. "_That movie really scared me, and I know I'm going to have trouble going to sleep_."

In response, our favourite Canadian took one of the chairs and placed right beside her bed. "_Sure I will_," he said taking her hand in his, "_and I'll even tell you a story_." Clearing his throat, he began the story, "_Once upon a time, there was this really bitchy redheaded girl. Now she was so bitchy…_"

Zack carried on the story until he noticed Elly had fallen asleep, he tucked her remaining arm under the blanket. "_Good night my princess_," he said after he kissed her soft lips. He got up, and made his way out of NERV.

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Horaki Residence - Just outside the door

Hikari and Toji had just finished walking all the way to her place. She was still fairly scared of that movie, that she had wished she'd never seen. So now they were just standing together outside the door, just staring at each other.

"Err Toji, what I wanted to say was… thank you, for… you know," Hikari was having trouble finding the words necessary.

"Uh you're welcome Cla… err Hikari," answered a slightly nervous Toji.

Hikari had Toji right where she wanted him. Now all that was left to do, was to follow through on the advice Elly gave her. 'Go for it!' a voice in the back of her mind told her.

She edged a bit closer to the boy, who was now blushing about as much as she was, which was quite a lot. Every moment of this felt more nerve-wracking than the last, but she was determined to try, or be totally embarrassed doing so. In an impulse, she acted bringing her arms around the bigger boy's neck, and pressed her lips against his, ending the streak of distractions.

It seemed a little awkward at first, but Toji then placed his arms around her, bringing their feelings for each other full circle.

"Toji and Hikari sitting in a tree…"

This broke the two out of their kiss, and turned their attention towards the door. It was Hikari's siblings, and they were watching the two kiss.

"Hey!" shouted a very embarrassed Hikari. "You're supposed to be in bed! When I get through with you…"

"Let them go Hikari," said Toji who felt a wave of confidence since that final barrier had been broken down. "They're happy for you, like I am to be with you."

"Aww Toji…" she moaned before pulling him back in for another kiss.

A/N: Okay, I'll end this here. Those two have finally gotten together now. Whoop-dee-do! So Rei's changes have finally begun. And it looks like they'll change her for… the better? Brown hair with blue streaks? An odd one definitely.

Omake

Gendo Ikari had a few words for Fuyutski, Ritsuko, and the bridge bunnies he was with. "Remember that this is supposed to be a 'scary as hell' movie, and I am also paying for the snacks and tickets. So if you run out of the theater because you get scared, your punishment will be a dock in pay. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir!" everyone replied in unison.

"Good. Let us proceed."

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After the movie - outside

"Wow, that was scary!" said a shaking Maya as she walked out the theater, not letting Makoto go.

"You can let go of me now Maya!" replied Makoto as Maya released her grip on him, so he could catch his breath.

"So where's the commander Fuyutski?" asked Ritsuko as she took out a cigarette.

"I don't know," replied the older man.

"There he is," reported Shigeru.

"Are you ready to leave?" Gendo inquired, with his back facing the others, not turning around at all.

"Uh, yes we are sir," replied Ritsuko. "And why aren't you facing us?"

"That is nothing you need to worry about. Another limo is coming for you five."

"What's wrong sir?" the doctor asked as she turned him around, then jumped back with shock. She looked straight at the groin area of his pants. There was a big spot there that was much darker than the rest of his pants.

"Did you have an accident sir?" she asked the third question.

"That is none of your concern," he snapped turning back around.

"So that explains why he didn't take off running like a little kid," said Maya to the other two technicians.

"He was so scared he pissed himself," joked Makoto.

"So the commander is afraid of zombies!" yelled Shigeru.

"You three just got your pay docked," declared the commander in a cold voice. "And if you speak of this to anyone, you'll be locked away in a prison that makes the Alcatraz Prison look like a four star hotel. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!"

Fuyutski sighed, 'He wets his pants and still doesn't lose his composure.'

Until 62, be cool!


	62. No Happy Landings for Conclusion Jumpers

A/N: Here we are again! Back into more… things. Glad to know that you reviewers are taking note of the events taking place. This time, Zack finds himself in a bit of a pickle. Let's rock!

A/O/N: Before I forget… WOOT! 603 reviews! Only 397 left! It feels so close!

A/O/O/N: And oh yes, the credit of the horror movie title: Birth of Flesh goes to Chiban-chan. Please give her a hand for the idea.

3 weeks after Chapter 61

It was a wonderful day in November in Zack's opinion. The autumn breeze was pleasant, the sign of leaves changing colour was well noticed among the trees that lay in Tokyo-3. Misato was awake without a hangover, Ivana wasn't calling him an imbecile, Rei was still Rei minus her changes which everyone had adjusted to by now, and Asuka was paying more attention to Shinji to fire off her own German insults at him.

And even better, his shoulder was feeling much better after that prank he pulled on Halloween which resulted in him getting shot by accident in the shoulder…

Flashback to Halloween Night

Everyone in the room was currently watching some pretty scary movies on the television set. Everyone including Elly was there in the room watching the last of three part movie series of the Mutilator of Tokyo. It was about a psycho who wore a mask who got his kicks and thrills by dismembering his victims alive through various tools and weapons he had.

In Zack's mind, his plan was going perfectly. Elly knew the plan and was playing along too. As expected Shinji, Asuka, and Misato were very on edge after watching all three graphic movies. Ivana and Rei were not factors in this equation. Zack and Elly had concocted a plan to scare the living daylights out of Shinji, Asuka and Misato.

Once the movies were done, Elly began to play her part, "Say Zack, can you take me home now? I'm tired and I know I'm going to have a hard time sleeping."

"No probs Princess," replied Zack who went to get his shoes on. Elly followed suit by putting on her pink shoes.

"Don't be too long now," said Misato. "It's dark, and Satanists run rampant at this time of year.

"No worries Misato. If anything, those occult people had better be scared of me. All they have are big black robes, and I doubt any of them are carrying 9mm handguns," boasted Zack proudly. "Let's go Elly."

Once they shut the door, they ran for the elevator. Zack hit the button for the lobby and down it went.

"Oh boy, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces," chuckled Elly as their ride neared the bottom. "They'll damn well wet themselves."

"Yeah. And if this goes well, we'll go for a late night treat. What do you say?" Zack proposed.

"YEAH!"

Not much later, the elevator had reached the top. The two darted out of the elevator to see the supplies they had hid by the side of the complex there earlier. Dark clothing, a ladder, a harness, a chainsaw that Zack had bought from a hardware store that day, and… a black mask.

"Okay, they should be watching Hell in a Hand Basket now," said Zack as he set the ladder.

"That should keep them busy for a while mate. I almost wet myself when I saw that back in Australia," called Elly as she watched him go up the ladder. They had set the ladder so it was right below the window where one could peek in and see the TV. When he was about twenty feet below the window, he hooked the harness to the rope that they both had installed on the roof of the building should Zack have an accident and fall off the ladder.

Chainsaw in hand, the Canadian continued to climb up the ladder, with his targets not knowing what awaited them.

Meanwhile, in the Katsuragi apartment, the others were once more on the edge of their seats with the movie that had just come on. It was called Hell in a Hand Basket, and it was definitely terrifying its residents. Shinji and Asuka were holding each other for dear life on the couch, and Misato had Rei in a tight grasp for dear life. And Ivana just watched the movie.

SCRATCH

"What was that?" jumped Shinji suddenly.

"What was what?" asked Asuka who was confused by Shinji jumping like he did out of her grip.

"I thought I heard something scratch at the window," answered Shinji.

"Relax. It was just your imagination from all these scary movies. It's not like the Mutilator is real you know," said Asuka assuring her boyfriend. "Now hold me!"

And so he did. But Shinji wasn't totally convinced that it wasn't his imagination playing tricks on him. But he wanted to avoid scrutiny from Asuka, so our top EVA pilot decided to try his best to ignore his little problem.

SCRATCH

"There it is again," said Shinji.

"Oh stop your whining!" retorted Asuka. "Grow up!"

"I heard it too," interjected Rei. "Something scratched at the window just now."

"Do you really think something's out there?" wondered Misato.

"Since I want to watch this movie," replied Asuka, "I'm going to settle this once and for all and we'll look outside to see it is nothing."

And as she was about to walk over to the window, she heard it.

SCRATCH

Now Asuka jumped. "Then again. Maybe we should just leave it closed. Why I believe our safety is in our best interests. And since we can't see this well at night, we can always check tomorrow."

It's was Ivana's turn to make a point. "Hmm, you were so bent a second ago on stating that Shinji was imagining things. Now you hear a scratching noise and you've gone nervous."

"What do you know?" shot back Asuka.

"Fine. Let's all look together," sighed Misato who wanted to get back to the movie. The movie was coming up to its few sexy points and Misato didn't want to miss it.

And so all four crept closer to the window. They stood about three feet away from the window and surprisingly, everyone stopped at once. Nobody did anything for about ten seconds when Misato then stepped forward to open the window…

Suddenly a figure shot up from the outside. He was wearing black clothing, wearing a mask, and had a chainsaw! "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" came the evil laugh.

"AHHH!"

"HOLY SCHIESSE!"

"IT'S THE MUTILATOR!"

BANG! SMASH!

Everyone turned in Ivana's direction. The Russian girl had snapped up her 9mm and shot at the masked perpetrator outside. The shot shattered the window and apparently had either hit the attacker or scared him enough to make him fall off whatever he was standing on. They then looked quickly outside the broken window to see what happened to the suspect.

To their surprise again, the suspect was hanging from a harness attached to the roof of the building, and he was yelling.

"_OW! SHIT! JESUS CHRIST! YOU SHOT MY FUCKING SHOULDER YOU COMMUNIST BITCH!_" yelled the masked perpetrator in English. Everyone recognized the voice of who it was.

"What… an idiot," muttered Misato.

Flash Forward

Back in the present, Zack was back to his current thought: how well this day was turning out to be so far. Once he had gotten dressed, he planned to call Elly and meet her at NERV before going to school. So as everyone else was eating whatever Misato had cooked up, and serious emphasis on 'whatever', Zack dialed the number of NERV into the telephone.

After having the receptionist redirect him to Elly's room, Zack waited patiently on the other end, listening to an odd choice of music for those on hold. After two minutes of waiting, which surprised Zack a little bit because Elly never took more than half a minute to get to the phone. Zack even remembered when Elly told him she had jumped out of the shower once to grab the phone just to talk to him. Then it was only five minutes later when she noticed she forgot to put her towel on after starting to feel cold.

"Hello," called out a somewhat groggy voice that Zack did recognize as Elly's.

"Hi Princess," replied Zack. "Is something wrong? You don't sound too well."

"Oh I've been feeling like shit all morning mate," said Elly. "Err hold a sec…"

Zack heard what he figured was Elly throwing up on the other end. It gave the Canadian an ugly feeling that told him to pass breakfast for the day. A thought then hit him, 'Oh my God, it can't be.'

"Sorry about that," said Elly as she picked up the phone, "I had to go in the garbage bin that time. I've been throwing up all morning, so the prank on Asuka will have to be postponed, okay?"

Zack did not respond right away. In fact he had gone dead silent. The others noticed it too. Misato tried speaking to the boy, "Zack is everything okay?"

Zack quickly snapped to attention. "Oh, it's nothing Misato. Elly's just feeling under the weather, that's all." He then went back to the phone. "Yeah, it'll have to wait. Patience is a key. I'll swing when you're feeling better then okay? All right. Get some rest, and have a bucket nearby. Ciao." Zack then hung up the phone, and took off for the bathroom.

Once he got inside and locked the door, he threw up yesterday's dinner into the crapper. He couldn't believe it. "This can't be happening to me. Not at my age. Not at her age," he muttered in a quiet voice. "I took the necessary precautions. And it still didn't work. Now it's coming back to kick me in the ass, or even worse it's gonna screw up both mine and Elly's lives." He pounded once on the wall, "FUCK!" was the yell following the pound on the wall.

Little did he know everyone had stopped what he or she was doing to listen to Zack's rant in the bathroom. Misato walked up to the door and knocked on it. "Casanova? Are you sure everything's alright?"

"I'll be fine," replied Zack. "I'm going to school now. I just need some time alone right now." Zack quickly got his things, and walked out the door, rather quietly for someone with his type of personality.

"That was… weird," said Misato as she walked back to the table to retrieve her morning beer.

"Well I wouldn't worry about it," declared Asuka. "Better yet, let's rejoice. He's out of the apartment early. So that's one less person to use the bathroom before we leave for school."

"That is not very nice Sohryu," put in Rei.

"Hey, he's always bothering me, and I bet he was going to try and pull some stupid prank on me. So I'm glad he's under the weather," Asuka shot back.

"Well I have nothing to do with this, so I'll stay out of it," was Shinji adding his two cents, or rather a yen.

However, Ivana was thinking differently from the others. They all knew Zack was muttering something, but what Ivana wanted to know was what he meant in his temporary monologue.

Whatever it was, it had something to do with something that involved both Zack and Elly. And apparently, something must've happened that Zack did not foresee and now he was going to pay for that.

'What could Zack have done that could possibly screw up his and Elly's lives?' Ivana wondered. 'Did he and Elly get arrested for some criminal offense? Well then again they are an offense to anyone they pass. That may explain the throwing up from the shock when they realized that they got charged. But a few things are missing. Number one is that we'd all know about it by now. And number two is that Misato would be downright pissed at the pervert. So that is out of the question,' concluded Ivana to herself. 'Perhaps Elly is just feeling sick this morning… wait a minute! No way!' she thought, 'it can't be…'

"Ivana!" called Misato to the Russian, snapping her out her reverie.

"Yes Misato?"

"Are you okay?" inquired Misato. "You went pale there for a second."

"I am fine. I was just lost in thought," said Ivana.

"What kind of thought made you go pale though?" asked Rei.

"Knowing all I've been through, there are many things that can," answered Ivana. It was a lie, but Rei bought it. She then changed the subject, "Well I suggest we get ready for school otherwise risk being late."

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Zack's mood didn't improve much on his way to school. After he left, he had bought some mints at a variety store to remove the bad breath he had from throwing up earlier. The weight of the ordeal he had found himself in was almost too much to bear. As he continued to pace, he considered going to NERV to personally to talk with Elly about the impending future. But after a lot of thought, he realized he couldn't face her after what he did. Before he knew it, he was at school. And it didn't take long for everyone to see how down in the dumps the Canadian EVA pilot was.

Suddenly, his cell phone started vibrating. So on impulse Zack checks the call display to see who it is. Unfortunately it turned out to be Elly. Not wanting to speak with her at the moment, he folded his phone back up and went into the school.

Even while he was in class, he was having difficulty concentrating. Ivana, Hikari, and Toji all noticed this. Toji decided to inquire into this matter by entering into the chat room to send Zack a message.

Zack however, did notice the message being sent to him. It was from someone named Super Jock 3000. He quickly remembered that was Toji and read the message. It stated: "Yo Z-man. What's wrong with ya? You're missing details on the teacher's sex life!"

Zack quickly fired a message back to Toji. Toji saw the message came from a user who had a name in a language he couldn't recognize (Canada Kicks Ass): "Just going through some tough times at the moment. And sorry, I don't really want to talk about it right now."

Toji, being the nosy parker he is, decided to ask Ivana for information as to what was wrong with his teammate. His message to Ivana, who also went under a name he couldn't read (Moscow) stated: "Hey Ivana. What's up with Z-man?"

Now Ivana noticed the message from Super Jock 3000. So she quickly typed back, "I think I know what the problem may be."

Toji was eager for an answer, "Tell me! Tell me!"

The response he got confused him. Ivana's message read, "I don't know exactly for sure what is wrong with him. But if my assumptions are correct, you will know the answer in less than nine months."

'What does that mean?' thought Toji to himself. 'Girls sure are weird with their riddles.' Another message then popped up on his screen. It was from Little Brown Eyed Girl. 'All right! A message from Hikari!'

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A young woman who was wearing a black hood that matched her black robe was wandering through the hallways of an unknown facility. Her identity was known to only a few. And that's how she preferred it. She passed several different rooms of the facility before she came to the place she was looking for. She stopped in front of what was a large door, which probably led to a rather large room. She waved her hand once and the doors slid open.

What was in the room was what appeared to be a factory. What the machines did in there was unknown. All she cared about though was finding the person she was looking for. And she did find that person. Another person wearing a hood whom was looking over a clipboard and giving out orders to the others in the workplace.

The other hooded person sensed her presence and turned around. It was the oldest looking of the hooded five. "Ah. What brings you here?" he asked her.

"I need to speak with you. Alone," the woman replied.

"Very well." The old man raised his hand. The factory faded out, and was replaced by a pure black room where no one could see a thing. "Take a seat." Somehow, they could see perfectly in the dark. They both took a seat in the chairs that were somehow there. "So, what was it that you wanted to speak with me about?"

"I have been watching the Children for the past few weeks now," replied the woman.

The man quickly interjected, "Why would you do that? You know the Master will be furious. He specifically ordered us to stay away from them until he said so! Shinji especially!"

"I have heeded the Master's orders," the woman shot back. "It's one of their friends I have found interest in. And don't think even for a moment it's 'that' kind of interest."

"Indeed. Whom are you speaking of?"

"A boy who used to be the closest friend of Shinji Ikari and Toji Suzahara. His name is Kensuke Aida," said the woman. An image of Kensuke appeared in the room.

"Ah I see. If my knowledge serves me well, he was one of the top contenders considered for the position of Eighth Child. He was also included in the list of candidates that was originally planned to replace Rei Ayanami when she had fallen ill." The old man was curious though, "But now I ask, what makes you interested in this boy?"

"I have watched this boy closely over the past three weeks. And I can sense the darkness growing in his heart. He used to be a happy and cheerful boy, who always wanted to pilot the Evangelions. But as the others began being selected, the darkness in his heart began to grow, with the anger of not being chosen. And now with the fact that everyone in their little social group has become an EVA pilot, and he has been left out, his heart has begun to corrode. Using his darkness, he has pushed away the others, until they have ignored him and left him alone."

"I see," replied the old man with a hint of interest in his voice.

"With your consideration, and the Master's permission. I suggest we make him an EVA pilot."

"I would agree with you, and I believe he would too," said the old man. "But where are we going to get another Evangelion from?"

The woman chuckled, "Leave that to the small one."

"Hmm, he's able to take some time away from Project V? If that's the case, I say put your hand in. I suggest you get yourself acquainted with the boy first. Appeal to his wounded heart so that he may come around to trust and confide in you. When you feel that you have his trust, then you can tell him about… what we have to offer for him. Then the test of his soul will commence."

"When you put it that way, it's like one of those parts in a movie where you're left in suspense at the life or death choice the main character makes," said the woman. "Will Kensuke Aida side with those who still think of him as a friend despite his attitude recently, or will he ultimately turn his back to them and when he does face them again, it will be on the opposite side of the battlefield."

"Only time will tell."

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Just outside Misato's Flat - After School

Much like how he had walked alone to school today, he had also walked home alone from school. Rei and Ivana were taking a while getting changed, and they would probably be home shortly. And Shinji and Asuka were also taking their sweet time coming home, probably off making out somewhere.

"Well, I guess nobody's home," said Zack aloud as he walked in the door. Finally, what had felt like forever at school was finally over. He had been asked constantly why he was feeling so glum. But he couldn't bring himself to explain to them why, for his and Elly's sake.

Speaking of Elly, Zack remembered the phone call Elly had given him earlier that he didn't answer. He sat down at the table, and took out his cell phone; Zack learned it had a message on it. He activated the message and listened to it.

"Hi Zack. From the looks of things, I'm still feeling kind of yucky. I'm going to go see Dr. Akagi and find out why I'm feeling so sick this morning. Hopefully it's something that will pass and I'll be fine."

"Yeah right. This is never going to pass. Nonetheless, I will be ready for what lies ahead."

The message went on, "I don't know I want to say this, but I will. I bet you'd wouldn't mind hearing this anyways. Regardless of what happens, whatever things Asuka or the Black Angel or anything else for that matter throws something our way, you have my solemn promise that I will always love you. I hope you have a great day at school and I look forward to the next chance I have to make out with you. Love, Elly." A sound that sounded like someone throwing up was then heard abruptly after, followed by "_Aww shit! Fucking barfed all over the phone!"_

Unbeknownst to Zack, Misato had then walked in the door. She had just gotten back from the Geofront with Kaji. And in her mind, that was one of the best times she had with him in a while. If it weren't for the kids being around, and no offense to them because she did love them all, she'd probably have Kaji move right in with them all.

As she looked to the table, she saw Zack who looked like he was about to break into tears. Misato had learned that Elly had been throwing up all morning. She had a remote suspicion, but the evidence was stacked against her, and the benefit of the doubt belonged to Zack.

Just then the phone rang. Misato saw Zack go to answer the phone. "Hello, Katsuragi residence," said Zack into the phone.

"Hi Zack!" It was Elly. And it sounded like she was feeling better.

"Elly? Uh how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling just fine mate, especially after what Dr. Akagi told me."

"That's what I wanted to talk with you about."

"What about it?" Elly was confused.

"Elly," began Zack. "I know why you're sick this morning. When I look back on what we did before we went into space, I thought there would be no consequences on our part. But unfortunately, nothing is 100 percent certain. However, I am ready to do my part for when the time comes."

Misato was also a tad boggled. It really wasn't like Zack to take responsibility for anything period, even if it was his fault. Perhaps when he was with Elly, he feels more responsible for her safety and well being.

"Uh, I'm not following mate," replied Elly who was still very confused. "I got no idea you're talking about."

"Aren't you pregnant?" was Zack's sixty-four thousand dollar question. This sudden question even made Misato jump as she listened to Zack talk. She couldn't hear Elly though, no thanks to only having one phone in the apartment.

"No. Not at all Zackkie. It didn't break okay?"

"Then why were you sick then if it wasn't because of that?" inquired Zack.

"Oh it was just a stomach flu," said Elly. "It's really going around the base. Everyone's been catching it. You should have seen what happened to the Commander during a conference today!"

"Ah. Stupid me for overreacting."

"No worries mate. Don't worry. Nobody knows what happened. It's our little secret." She continued, "What you said earlier was sweet though. Maybe next time we won't need the safeguards," she chuckled.

"Let's put that off for at least seven years okay?" chuckled Zack right back. "Well I had best go, before the others get home and it becomes the subject at dinner."

"Bye bye!"

Zack hung up; completely unaware that Misato was about to unleash her fury on him. Now that she had found out that Zack and Elly secretly had sex while in the United States and under her nose, he was going to be in SO MUCH TROUBLE. He looked up to see Misato walking into the room. "Hey Misato," he called to her. He noticed that she looked very angry, "Uh, something wrong Misato?"

"Zack Harper. Sit down this instant. You and I are going to have a talk. A long talk."

Zack knew exactly what was going on, '_Holy… shit._'

A/N: And that ends another chapter. Yes. A true nightmare for both teenage boys and girls. Teenage pregnancy. My advice for those horny teenagers out there. As another author wrote in their fic (I think it was KrisRemmel, credit to him), no sex is the safest sex possible. If you really can't control yourself (I don't blame ya if your girlfriend's hot), wear protection. Hopefully the former takes precedence over the latter.

A/O/N: Well this chappie wasn't all about teen issues. This did have some plot development, so it wasn't a complete filler. So it appears our friends in 'The Hood' have an interest in Kensuke. What are they going to do to our military otaku?

Until 63, be cool!


	63. The First Encounter

A/N: Oh my. What a hectic few days it has been. I'm kind of in a grumpy mood as I type this. But perhaps it's for the better, as it will help set the mood for the opening chapter. Let's go!

Slight warning: Some sexually related content in this chapter. You've been warned. No lemons/limes though.

Zack Harper was definitely feeling like he was in the hot seat. Even though it was just an average kitchen chair, it was now the hot seat. Sitting right across from him was the Big Bad Wolf, usually known as Misato.

"Since I have figured out that you know a LOT more about sex than I first had thought," began Misato, "I'm going to cut to the chase. As angry as I am, and as much as I'd like to keep you and Elly from going at it like lowland gorillas ever again, I am not completely without mercy."

"So what are you going to do then?" asked Zack who Misato noticed was shaking nervously.

"We're going to play a little game Zack," answered Misato who lips slowly into a grin. "I am going to give you three options, one at a time. If you choose the option I put before you, you will be able to neither hear the others nor be able to retract to a previous option. And if you refuse all three options, one will be chosen at random." She glared at him. "Are you ready?"

"Yes…"

"Good. The first option is that we will both walk away from this table as if this never occurred, however you and Elly will be absolutely forbidden to have any sort of contact period. Do you select this option?" asked Misato.

"No."

"Careful, don't push your luck too much," teased Misato. Oh boy she was going to have fun making him squirm. "Now for your second option. The second option is that we both get up from this table, and you are to be grounded for a total of exactly three weeks. And after that, you will be permitted contact with Elly again. Do you select this option?" the guardian asked again.

Now Zack had to be nervous. This game could potentially cost his relationship with Elly. 'Aww dammit! Why the hell did I choose to get some? We only did it because we honest to God thought we were gonna die against the Black Angel!' Zack pondered the situation. 'Well, the first option is obviously out. So now I can either take the safe one and go on a 3-week hiatus, or do I risk it all on the third option?'

"Zack. Answer me now."

'Screw this! What fun can you have in life if you take no chances? Bring on the third option!' Zack said to himself. "No."

"Very well then," replied Misato. "Now I'll present the third choice. You reject this and I'll choose one at random. And that will be the punishment you will receive, for better or for worse."

"Then let's get this over with."

"Very well, I present to you what I will call Pandora's box," said Misato.

"What?" shot back a surprised Zack. "That could be anything!"

"That is correct. When it was opened, all its contents were freed from the box. But one thing remained. Hope. And within that box is your hope to be able to maintain contact with Elly. So do you take the third option and whatever it may hold?"

"Yes," was Zack's answer He had come this far and was not about to let his relationship with Elly be subject to a game of chance. "What's in the box?" he sighed.

"Very well. The first content of the box is this," declared Misato. "Your moment with Elly, what was it like? I want you to tell me. She took his wrists and held them in her hands. I can make a very good lie detector. I can sense if you're lying. And if you lie to me and I catch you, you won't be near Elly ever again. I'm going to ask you some questions. You will answer with either yes or no. You will only need to answer further if I demand it so. Are you ready?"

'Oh my god, what a bitch,' thought Zack. 'Ah well, may as well tell her. Elly would probably tell the story anyways, then give advice to people on sex.' "Let's do this."

"Okay," began Misato, "first off, when you and Elly had sex, did she feel any pain at the start?"

Zack was silent for a moment, analyzing Misato's question. It was rather obvious, as Misato wanted to know if Elly was a virgin or not when they first did it. "Yes."

"Good, you're telling the truth… so far." Misato kept going. "Next question. Did you use any form of protection when you had sex?"

'Oh man Asuka and the others were right. Misato is a pervert. And now I'm stuck playing this game.'

"Yes."

"Now for my next question: did she make a lot of noise while you two did the deed?"

'You are sick,' "Yes." 'I'll bet you're disappointed you didn't bloody hear it!' roared Zack in his mind.

"Fourth question," snapped Misato. "Did you two have any other forms of sex while you were at it?"

'Who do you think we are? Porn stars? I at least like to think we're teens that are in love, but made a wrong decision.' "No."

"And now for your final question," said Misato. "Answer this truthfully, and you'll be halfway through Pandora's box to grasp the hope you are looking for. Your last question is…"

Zack was now very worried. He knew right away that Misato was not going to hold back with her last question. She had already done a ton of damage with her first four questions, and now she was about to deliver the final blow.

"… Did she climax?"

'Whoa! Talk about way over the top! She doesn't need to know that! I bet she's killing herself laughing knowing that she's making me squirm like this. Someone kill me now. I guess I have no choice.'

"Yes."

"I see," said Misato. "And I believe you have answered me truthfully, which gets you past the first stage of Pandora's box. And now, for the second part of this box."

Misato then handed Zack a sheet of paper. Zack looked at it for a moment before his face turned to pure horror. "You want me to fight in a martial arts tournament?"

"That's correct," smirked Misato. "By agreeing to fight in this tournament, I'll allow you to have contact with Elly again. Refusal means no Elly. And oh, by the way the grand prize is an imported blue BMW. They're all the rage right now."

"So you want me to fight for you against a bunch of other go-hard black belts just so you can have a car?" asked Zack who wished to confirm his fate.

"Yes exactly. I think this will teach you not to fuck around on my watch," declared Misato. "I was going to just ask Ivana to fight, but I think I like this better," she finished with a smirk.

Zack placed his head down on the table and moaned, 'Why me? Why me? And why do I got this feeling that Elly got off easy?'

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NERV HQ - Elly's Room

"_Oh my god, what a bitch. She made you tell everything? You should ask her about her casual romps with Kaji." _Elly wasn't too amused about Zack spilling to Misato the events of that time before the 6th Black Angel. And what she got from Dr. Akagi was nothing compared to what Zack got. All she got was a simple pregnancy test and not so pushy questions. All this happened because she had caught the flu the night before.

"_Hmm. So she's making you fight in a martial-arts tournament? So she can win a car? That sounds like fun." _ A pause passes while Elly listens in._ "C'mon Zack, how hard can that be?" _Zack says something else. _"Oh okay. And hey look at it this way, you can beat people up. You'll even get a shot at Ivana." _Elly listens some more before speaking again, _"Oh don't worry, I'm sure you'll do just fine. I'll be there to cheer you on. I gotta go make dinner for the NERV blokes. Love ya! Bye!"_

Once she hung up, she sighed in frustration. Why would Misato be getting bent out of shape over sex that was thought through thoroughly and that had no accidents? _"Damn her! She's a real believer in the saying 'Do as I say, and not as I do'. Why would she want to know if it bloody well hurt or not? It did hurt though. Ah well, time to make dinner now."_

She looked around her room for a cookbook. It was time to feed some hungry bellies. And not many could do it better than she could. 'Hmm, perhaps something from the English delicacy would interest them tonight,' she thought. _'Now where's that book? Damn! It's coloured pink and I got so many pink things_.' Peeking over the microwave, she located it. It was a pink book said to be full of great English dinners that one could make.

Thumbing through the book, Elly was shocked at what she saw. _"Damn! There's enough grease in these dinners to give my Unit 06 a lube job!" _ She quickly flipped through some more pages, _"Okay, let's find something old King Charles would eat for dinner!"_

After looking through the entire book, she frowned at the selection in front of her. Well it wasn't much, but it would have to do. Tomorrow is definitely something from the Australian menu. Going into her closet, she donned her white (surprise!) apron and chef hat. As she walked into the NERV cafeteria's kitchen, the other cooks in there greeted her.

"Hello Elly," one of the female cooks said to her, "it's your turn to decide what to make tonight."

"I know, I know," replied Elly. "It's going to be easy tonight. I picked this one out of an English cookbook."

"So what'll it be?" asked a male cook."

"Fish and chips."

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Coffee Shop

Loneliness was beginning to take its toll on Kensuke Aida. He hadn't really spoken to the others in the past three weeks. Since the others had joined NERV, he felt like the others were going to leave him out of the loop. Since he didn't want to feel the burden of having to accept that, he pushed the others away. But now after three weeks, he wondered if he was making the right decision by staying away from the others.

Since it had suddenly begun raining heavily, he decided to seek temporary refuge in a coffee shop. Sitting in a booth with a coffee in front of him, he felt it could be easier to brood over his thoughts.

His thoughts drifted to his first memories with Toji and Shinji, and how this whole thing began. It was definitely strange how Shinji had befriended them indeed. Then all the other hectic events took place. And along the way, his friends had eventually joined the ranks of Evangelion pilots. All the while he had been left out to dry. And from what he gathered, Toji and Shinji both hated piloting, and Elly had other reasons as for why she was piloting. While Kensuke on the other hand would be the first volunteer in line if NERV ever needed pilots.

"It's just not fair," he muttered.

"What isn't fair?" asked a voice.

"Huh?" Kensuke's head shot up and looked around for the source of the voice. It came from a figure, clad completely in black from head to toe. This person had a glass of coffee in his hand and apparently was completely soaked because of the rain.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?" asked the person in question. The person had a female's voice, so Kensuke assumed she was a woman, despite the black hood covering her head and the top half of her face. From the information he had, Kensuke estimated her to be somewhere in her early twenties.

"N-no not at all," replied Kensuke.

"Ah that's good," said the woman. She stared at him as if she was staring into his soul. Kensuke still couldn't see her eyes, but she could see two light brown braids in the back of her hood. "You look troubled, care for some company?" she asked sweetly.

"Sure, not at all. I warn you though, I'm not in the best of moods though."

"That's alright," replied the woman in the hood. "I've associated with many people in my lifetime. And they've had all sorts of moods, from being downright depressed to where they look like they're about to erupt." She sipped her coffee before speaking again. "I'm curious, what makes your condition so special that you can't converse with me?"

"I'm feeling down at the moment. Angry with my for- err friends and sort of with myself," sighed Kensuke.

"Why would you be angry with them?"

"Have you ever heard of the Evangelions?" Kensuke asked this woman.

"Of course I have!" answered the woman. "They're what people say are what will save this world from so-called damnation from God's Angels."

"Well all my friends eventually have been chosen to pilot those things. And the Evangelions look so cool too. I've always wanted to pilot, but I've never been chosen. It just isn't fair. And then I blew up at one of my friends because he got to be a pilot even though he hated it, and I keep getting passed over again and again."

"Would you really want to risk your life like that? I hear fighting Angels are very dangerous," the woman asked.

"Yes I would," replied Kensuke who had no doubt in his eyes, "I would put my life on the line for a chance. It's what any soldier would do."

"Hmm I see. So let me ask you a question. Would you fight for NERV and pilot their Evangelions if they were fighting for the wrong cause?"

"Why do you ask that?" Kensuke wasn't too sure where this was going.

"Well say you wanted to become a soldier more than anything in Nazi Germany, back over 70 years ago. And you found out about the atrocities that the Nazis were found to have committed. Would it make you change your mind about becoming a soldier?" the woman clarified.

"No I wouldn't want to become a soldier then," declared Kensuke.

"That's my point. But what if your friends were working for someone who was a madman who would do anything to get what he wanted. Would you want to be of 'use' to him?"

"No I wouldn't. But I heard that Shinji's father isn't the madman Shinji alleges he once was!" said Kensuke. "I've actually seen him defend Shinji from a psychotic gym teacher."

"Hmm, interesting indeed," replied the woman. "Perhaps my information is outdated. It's been a while since I have been to this area." She took another sip. "You are definitely an interesting person for one of your age. One who is willing to fight, but at the same time, will not fight for the wrong cause. You have a strong sense of justice indeed. It's quite inspiring to say the least."

"You really think so?" asked Kensuke. He was quite amazed that with a few words, he could gain the respect of a stranger who started up a conversation with him.

"I can say that without a doubt. But now back to my original question, why would you be angry with your friends because you were passed over? Do you feel that they were just using you for their entertainment purposes? And now that they're part of the in-crowd, that you are nothing to them?"

"I don't know. This has made me confused," answered Kensuke. "I don't know whether to go back to them, or not to because they left me out to dry."

"That's a choice that definitely tests the soul in every one of us," said the woman. "And it will be a choice you have to make. I found myself having to make that choice long ago myself."

"Really?"

"Yes I did." She then looked outside. "Oh look the rain has ended. I think it's alright for you to go now and not worry about being soaked." She gulped down the rest of her coffee. "I'll be going now too. Perhaps we'll meet again someday. May I get your name, so that I can remember this conversation?"

"My name is Kensuke. Kensuke Aida."

"I see. Well, it was very nice talking to you indeed Kensuke. I bid you good day. And keep with you that sense of justice. It would be sad if that goodness in your heart got tainted." And with that she made her way out of the shop.

"Hmm, that was strange indeed," said Kensuke aloud. 'Wait! I never got her name!' He charged out of the shop to seek her out and find out her name. But as he looked down the street, there was no one there.

"Damn! She disappeared! Who was she?" he wondered. Not really knowing what else he could do, but feeling better than he had been in previous days, he made his way home.

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Unknown Place

The woman walked through the facility she had been in recently. She was looking for the older hooded man to tell him how it went. But she couldn't find him.

"So what's your take on what happened?" asked a voice that came from behind her.

She turned around to face the voice. It was her master in his usual garb of black clothing to go with a black hood. "It didn't go too well my lord."

"Be at ease. It is quite an interesting task you've undertaken, attempting to corrode the heart of one of Ikari's closest friends," said the man. "If your goal was to mess Aida up completely on the first go, then you're lucky it went like it did."

"How so Master?"

"By carrying out a conversation as you did, you showed him that he has a strong sense of justice and that he's a good person. Something he didn't realize himself. The next time you converse with him, he'll likely be more open to you. And with the right touch of words, we can corrode his heart, and he'll think Ikari and his friends are the evil ones. Nothing does happen in one sitting. Something happens after many sittings."

The woman had another question. "Where are we going to get another EVA? Unit 10 is already in use for the little one's project."

"I have contacts in China," replied the man. "When you are ready to bring Aida before me, I'll have some strings pulled. He will pilot Unit 08."

"Ikari and Suzahara won't believe it when their opponent is their best friend."

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Misato's House

"Humph! I knew it! You whore humping Canadians have no goddamn fucking morals!" roared Asuka. "And you're letting him get off the hook for this Misato?"

"He's not getting off the hook Asuka," sighed Misato who was into her third beer of the night. "It was coincidental. This tournament is coming up, and I want to win this car. And I can punish him at the same time."

"Yeah," said Zack. "So if you want to get in Shinji's pants, not that he'd object, just sign up for this tournament."

"I can't believe you! Sex is supposed to be something you treat with care, not that you two would know anything about that!" Asuka stomped off.

"She has a point you know," called out Ivana who was in the middle of a book. "You two don't know anything about love. All you two are obsessed with is getting in someone's pants."

"Hey!" shot back Zack. "If you had one last chance with your lover, whoever he may be knowing you, and you thought you were going to die, wouldn't you want one final or perhaps only time with the love in question?"

"No, because I am not the type of person you are," she answered putting down her book. "And I sure hope we will be facing each other in that tournament," her angry face began turning into a grin, "because I am going to enjoy punishing you." She then proceeded to crack every bone in her knuckles, and then in her neck.

Ivana's gesture scared the hell out of Zack. 'Oh my god, she's not human. I still can't crack my knuckles.' "I'm hitting the showers. Maybe the steam will help clear my mind."

Rei, who had been sitting on the pullout couch reading the book 'Learning How to Smile', now spoke up with a question of her own, "When is this tournament Misato?"

"Oh it's in a week from now. So Casanova has a week to do everything he wants before he gets his Canadian ass handed to him."

Asuka, after taking a brief walk after stomping off earlier found herself back at Misato's residence. The reason she blew up like she did was because she knew her period was going to begin soon, and well… it can make even the most pleasant girls bitchy.

She opened the door, and the first person she saw was… Wondergirl? Ah well it was better than Zack any day. She quickly made her way into her room, assuming that's where Shinji was. Once she opened, stepped inside and closed the door, she was surprised the room was completely dark. No lights on or anything. In the darkness however, she could make out a figure sitting up against the wall. And there was a faint noise in the background. She opened the door a crack to let some light in. It was Shinji indeed, but he was sleeping while sitting up against the wall. And he had that SDAT on.

Closing the door again, she decided to find out exactly what he was listening to for herself. She sat down next to him and pulled out one of the earphones and stuck it in her ear. To her surprise, it was… classical music. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and let the music take her away.

As Asuka was slowly being soothed by the music, she forgot all about Casanova, her period, and Misato's poor excuse for punishment. All she could think about was how good of a shoulder Shinji had, and the music of Ode to Joy.

A/N: And that's another chapter under wraps! I've been quite busy over the past week. Prepping for a golf trip, battling a NASTY cold, and more forum wars (This time, fighting on the right side too. And this is the 3rd one too!). Not too big on the ending myself, so please don't hurt me!

A/O/N: I can't believe it's been a year now since I started this! May have slowed up a bit, but I'm still going strong! And I will till the very end! HAPPY ANIVERSARY from all the crew at Misato's apartment!

Shinji: Wow. It's been a year already. I can't believe it.

Asuka: I wish this were already over! Because I can't stand Casanova.

Rei: It has been 365 days. And the author has decided to alter my appearance.

Zack: Aha! One year of me! Let's hope the next year of me is even better!

Ivana: Dare to dream.

Misato: I need a beer.

Elly: Yay! It's been a whole year!

Gendo: Definitely not in the scenario.

Omake

"Fourth question," snapped Misato. "Did you two have any other forms of sex while you were at it?"

'Who do you think we are? Porn stars? I at least like to think we're teens that are in love, but made a wrong decision.' "Geez Misato. I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!"

"Oh no," muttered Misato snapping back her arms.

"What?" asked Zack. "What is it Misato?"

Suddenly, a bunch of crazy people burst through the door and charged into the kitchen, nearly trampling Pen-Pen in the process. They stopped at the table where Misato and Zack were. "NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!" one of them said before leaving as fast as they came.

Zack looked at his guardian who had her head held in her hands. "Uh, are you gonna keep firing questions at me?"

"Just leave," moaned Misato. "I got a headache now. This is why I broke up with Kaji. The Spanish Inquisition."

Until 64, be cool!

PS- Now for your sneak preview!

Something is coming.

More powerful than the EVA Series…

More powerful than any Black Angel so far…

More powerful than Kirishima…

He is coming. Very soon. Very, very soon.

Strap yourselves in for the upcoming Project V Saga. It will be a real blast from the past. A past only one knows about. And only one knows how dangerous he really is. And what will they do when even Shinji is no match for this terror? Find out how this unfolds in Project V: The Awakening.


	64. Project V Part 1: The Awakening

A/N: Here we are again. I welcome you to my second saga in this story. The Project V Saga. I've been hinting at this one for a while, and it's time to reveal its wrath upon you all! But first…

A hidden facility

The five hooded figures from before were now organized in a secret location and having another meeting. On the agenda were the plans for the future scenario, what to do with Kensuke Aida as he had now gained the interest of these beings. And the third was the very anticipated Project V that the shortest of the five had been working on.

"So are the plans for the future still in motion Master?" asked the largest of the five with a deep male voice.

"As I see things, yes they are still in motion. The losses of our brethren are of little consequence to me," replied the second tallest with a young male's voice. "Jeroboam did his part with the surprise introduction in Australia. Manasseh was rather a disappointment however. I figured he would have done much better."

"The twins Oholah and Ohlibah came close, but we were caught by surprise," replied the third tallest of the five. This one had the voice of a man who's sounded very old and scratchy.

"Unfortunately Saul had to be an overconfident son of a bitch," muttered the fourth tallest, who had a young woman's voice. "He almost had it in the bag too."

"And of course Nebuchadnezzar fucked it up too," put in the shortest of them all, who had a voice like a child's. "He had the whole world scared shitless and he lost to two trash talking kids."

"Which brings me to another question Master," said the large one, "are we going to be sending out more failures into battle? And I'm sure Keel will have a difficult time tolerating this as well."

"He has a point," the oldest one noted, "we are 0 for 6. Are we really planning on using the remaining Black Angels as well, with the likely possibility that they will fail as badly as they have been failing? Keel may think he was better off just using the EVA Series to accomplish his goals. Alone he has come close."

"You have a point in that matter. He did come close. But in the end, he failed in his attempt to achieve Third Impact. That is when he came to us for help. And if it weren't for our resources, he wouldn't have his EVA Series up and running again. And whether the other Black Angels are failures or not, I intend to have all of them get a shot at defeating the pilots. Their success means our plans are greatly accelerated. Their failure gives us a chance to learn what is needed to be learned so we don't fail again." Looking at the third tallest one, he continued, "And you know how valuable it is for you to be learning all you can about these kids."

"Indeed, you have a point. It's just hard on an old man like myself to have to wait like this. But it is all for our cause."

"Exactly, so either in the short or long terms we will succeed. That I can guarantee," declared the leader.

"Speaking of which," the small one wondered, "who is the next one to go?"

As usual, the leader had an answer, "Keel doesn't know it yet, but I will intend on making him aware once more attention can be focused on our brethren, but I believe it shall be Calamousill."

"The Lord of Earth? An element Angel?" asked the tall one. "The situation hardly calls for such a demon to rise up."

"Perhaps, and perhaps not," said the Master. "I think we've been rather soft on the kids with Saul and Nebuchadnezzar. Calamousill has not only the ability to give them a run for their money, but also the potential to make them cower with fear."

"I agree," replied the youngest one. "I want to see them be absolutely terrified."

"I second that," put in the older one. "Fear is a powerful weapon indeed."

"Then it is decided," said the leader. "Calamousill it is then." Next he decided to change the subject. "Next on our agenda of discussion is none other than Kensuke Aida, our future employee from the hopes of things."

"I don't understand the meaning of this at all," retorted the tall one. "Why do we need another pilot? We already have everything we require."

"You still don't get it do you?" the leader sighed. "There is obviously more to life than just one simple objective. Surely the humans have taught you that, unless Gendo Ikari was your mentor." When the leader received silence from the others in the room, he had to elaborate. "What I am saying is, is that even if Aida were to fall that this incident alone would take a pleasant whack at the state of minds of Ikari and Suzahara. Their shattered morale would eventually affect the others, with Sohryu, Horaki, and Ayanami. That gives you five psychologically weakened pilots, with a mere three at full strength with only one of those three having decent experience. And with the effect that Project V will have in our wings, that will leave only two inexperienced pilots"

"To even be able to have this affect the others though," brought up the old one, "obviously we have to convince him to work for us first."

"Which I am working on," continued the woman. "I will speak with Kensuke again sometime very soon. It may take another talk or two, but I believe I can blur his definitions of good and evil."

"And as you do that, make him constantly question himself as to what is good and what is evil," said the leader. "The more he questions how good NERV actually his, the more his doubts will rise up. And that is where we come in. Show him the evil that NERV 'is'. And perhaps… leak a few sensitive details. Then he'll pledge himself to us when he see that those he trusts work for someone so manically evil."

"Ah, the irony of it all," laughed the smallest of them. "In that case, I'll have my workers prepare his plugsuit and the A-10 neural sensors for his arrival." He turned to the leader, "So how long will it take to get Unit 08 from China?"

"It will take as long as it needs to take. Keep in mind that I'm going to have to do this under Gendo Ikari's nose, so it is not a task easily done by our operatives."

Now the tall one sighed, "If we are going to have trouble with operatives, then why doesn't one of us go instead? Once we stole Unit 07 from England, and now all NERV bases believe that if it can happen once, it can happen again. Thus they have beefed up security now."

The leader was not happy with this remark. "If you feel so strongly about how we conduct our operations, then you can go get Unit 08. We don't have time to play fetch you know."

"Very well Master," the tall one replied defeated. "I will go."

"Not now. You will go when I say so," shot back the master. "And now moving on to our final topic of the day, the highly anticipated Project V."

"So when can I release him Master?" asked the small one. "I can sense he is getting anxious."

"It's almost time," answered the leader. "The objective of our plan is to do what Hitler failed to do. And that is to conquer Europe. This way, we'll have dismantled most of the power of the United Nations other than the United States and China. From there, we smash into the Middle East to reap its resources for our vast expanding empire."

"That's obviously the objective, but how will we do all that?" inquired the woman. "Do we have a plan in the works?"

"Yes we do," replied the leader. "I have contacts in Russia as well. They're working for me obviously and want us to achieve our goals. They're working under the name of the outlawed Red Star political party, which wants to reclaim communist-styled power in Russia. Using the resources we are supplying them with, they will attempt a coup to overthrow the government. With that mission's success, we will use the power of Russia's military to conquer the rest of Europe."

"This will mean either the occupation or destruction of Russia and Germany's NERV bases," put in the old one. "Something NERV Japan will not take lying down."

"I know that. And that is what Project V is for. Gendo Ikari will send a few EVAs to deal with our attack. He will meet them in Europe. Hopefully he will crush as many of them as he can."

"It's really all about the EVAs isn't it," asked the tall one. "The side that has more EVAs will win however, with one against possibly three to five."

"Your stupidity is astounding," retorted the leader. "You think I would send one EVA against many without an extra card up the sleeve?" Once he got his expected silent reply of no, he continued, "Obviously we're going to give him a little boost to propel our plans along. I will imbue him with the power of darkness."

"Ah, that is an excellent idea," said the woman. "Fueled by his hatred of the one he thought loved him, his power will grow immensely. Perhaps powerful enough to even bring Ikari to his knees."

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Tokyo-2 - Arena

The atmosphere in the small arena located in Tokyo-2 was indeed electric. From all around the surrounding areas, many contestants had traveled here to compete in this martial arts tournament, all vying for the prize of five hundred thousand yen, and a spiffy looking BMW.

Sitting in the stands, were of course many people who had come to watch this. Among them were Misato and the kids, who were here to watch Zack and Ivana compete against the other contestants so Misato could win that BMW. Elly was at ringside, being Zack's water and towel girl. Rei and Shinji were both watching this match carefully, and both hoping that whether Zack won or lost, he didn't end up too badly hurt. Asuka on the other hand, was being the water and towel girl for Ivana.

A/N: Let's say Zack and Ivana are wearing your average jujitsu clothing.

Meanwhile in the arena, Zack seemed to have the situation well under control. If this had been an earlier match, Zack would have likely run into trouble, as this guy he was facing was obviously better than he was. But fatigue had gotten the better of his opponent and Zack was hoping he could end this quick to save some stamina for the finals.

His opponent made one last charge also in hopes of ending the match. Zack was ready for this. His challenger threw a right at his face. Zack cupped his hands into the incoming fist and quickly spun around to his right, making it so that he had stepped right around his attacker. Upon nearing completion of his revolution, with one karate chop to the back of his opponent's head, Zack had won the match.

"And that's that," declared Zack once the official had declared him the winner. He walked towards the sidelines; curious to see whom he would be facing in the finals. He was only able to pay attention to what was going on with his side of the playoff tree. He hadn't been able to see the other side.

On one side, he saw his name written in kanji. However, he was horrified at the name he saw written on the other side. "Oh come on. Of all people in this tournament, I have to face her?"

"You got it Casanova," replied a voice with a thick Russian accent behind him.

Zack turned around to face his roommate Ivana. "Why can't you and Misato just leave me alone?"

"I'm here because I wanted to test my fighting abilities," replied Ivana. "You're here because you decided to get in a girl's pants under Misato's nose." She cracked her knuckles just to freak him out. "And when I'm through with you, you won't be able to tell your head from your ass. And that will be in 30 minutes. So I suggest you get prepared." She turned away to go and prepare herself.

Zack had finally had enough. "Okay Ivana, that's it!"

Zack's outburst caused Ivana to turn around. "More to say?" she asked in a taunting tone.

"I've dealt with enough bullshit from you, Asuka, and Misato. I've had it with all your belittling!" yelled Zack. "Know this Ivana, you should be the frightened one, because I'm gonna take you out!"

Some officials overheard this and quickly stepped in between them to prevent any scuffles breaking out before the finals had started. However, this exchange of words prompted a few cheers from the crowd.

As Zack walked back over to the sidelines Elly was there to greet him with a water bottle and a towel. "Good job there mate, you're in the finals."

"Unfortunately it's against her," muttered Zack as he sat down on the bench. "One of three girls who enjoy making my life a living hell."

"Hey look at it this way," replied Elly as she massaged his shoulders, "this is your chance to get her back. And I know you're good enough to beat her."

"You think so?"

"Definitely. I've seen you fight the Ron remember? I know how good you are."

Zack thought back to that fight a few months ago. It was a painful time for him and Elly, but at the same time it seemed like his finest hour. "Perhaps I can."

Meanwhile Misato was getting dulled rather quickly. The bartender at this place wouldn't serve her another beer after she finished off two cans of Yebisu. And this half hour felt like it was taking forever. To her however, she had pretty much won her BMW on the grounds that both her contestants had made the final round. It was just a matter of getting this bout over with. Hopefully one of them would just withdraw and let the other win. But knowing the rivalry between the Russian and the Canadian, it was like two egos going head to head.

Desperate to relieve herself of her burden of boredom, she tried to make conversation with Shinji and Rei. Shinji was relatively silent. Rei was busy reading another book Misato had gotten her called 'You're Sexy and You'll Know It in 10 Easy Steps'. "Hey you two," she began, "who do you think will win the finals? Zack, or Ivana?"

This thought put them both into deep thought. Shinji answered first, "As I see it, they both look very equal in terms of skill. I'm not really into this, so I can't really say."

"Aww you're no fun," pouted Misato. Rei would likely give a long answer, but it would be better than silence. "So what do you think Rei?" she asked being overly cheery

"There are many factors that come into play in this situation," answered Rei looking up from her book.

"Care to explain?" asked Misato of the brown/blue-streaked girl.

"Very well. First one implies their styles of combat. Ivana is much more offensive and prefers up-close combat. She is mostly fixed on one style, which is perhaps the one she learned in Russia. This style involves getting close to an opponent and dealing powerful blows which render an opponent defeated within a few hits. Also, her excellent condition enables her to fight for long periods of time, if she has to wear out her opponent before defeating him."

Misato was amazed by how Rei was able to obtain that information just from watching Ivana fight. "So, what are Ivana's odds of winning then?"

"2 to 1," replied Rei.

"I see," continued Misato, "and what about Casanova?"

"Zack is something of a contrast to Ivana's style of fighting. From what I see, he applies an American style of tae-kwon-do along with a few unorthodox moves he has borrowed from other martial arts styles. Zack prefers to keep a few steps away from his attacker and use counter attacks to turn his enemy's power against him. Like Ivana, he is also in excellent shape, thus his counterblows are just as vicious as Ivana's attacks. He does not like long fights, and he tries to tire his opponent out quickly with defensive moves and the counters."

"And his odds?"

"8 to 1. Ivana in my opinion holds the advantage," finished Rei.

"Good," said Misato. She got up from her seat, "I'll be right back." And she walked off to places unknown.

"Where do you think she went Rei?" inquired Shinji.

"I do not know. It is unlikely she went back to the bartender. If she wishes to acquire the BMW, she will avoid causing a disturbance with the bartender. I do not believe she smokes, but it is a possibility that she smokes secretly."

"Maybe she went to go see Ivana before the fight," wondered Shinji.

"That is also unlikely. Zack and Ivana both have assistants to attend to them, being Elly and Asuka respectively. I suggest she may be trying to place a wager on either Zack or Ivana to win the upcoming fight, thus being the explanation for my observations on their fighting tactics."

Shinji realized something, "But Misato sponsored those two. According to the rules, she could end up having Zack and Ivana disqualified!"

"That is true, but there are ways around such obstacles," said Rei.

Another few minutes had passed and Misato hadn't returned. It was almost time for the finals to commence. Shinji could see that Zack had stood up and was rolling his shoulders as he was getting ready for the finals. On the other side, Ivana was also standing up and stretching herself out.

"Maybe we should go look for Misato," figured Shinji. "I doubt she will want to miss this."

"I do not believe that is necessary. She will be back."

"Hey there, I'm back!" Misato suddenly interjected. Speak of the devil. "So," she wondered as she sat back down, "what'd I miss?"

"You did not miss anything of certain importance," answered Rei.

"Look," called Shinji, "it's starting!"

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Aside

One Section 2 agent was watching the match, and the kids as well from way up high in the stands. From his seat, he noticed his partner return with a receipt in his hand.

"So how much did Misato ask you to bet for her?" asked the agent.

"I still can't believe she wanted me to do that. I guess she really is starved for cash," replied the second one taking a seat next to his partner. "She asked me to wager 40,000 yen on Ivana to win the match."

"That's nothing compared to what I've been doing," said the first one.

"Really?"

"I had to place some bets on behalf of Commander Ikari, Commander Fuyutski, Dr. Akagi, and her employees, and some panhandler."

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Ringside

Zack and Ivana now waited patiently for the official at ringside to ring the bell to start the match. They both knew the rules. This would be a twenty-minute duel to the finish. One could win by either ringing out their opponent, having their opponent forfeit, by incapacitating the opponent, or by the opponent being disqualified.

"I'm not going to hold back Casanova," declared Ivana. "Get ready." She assumed her stance.

"That's obvious," chuckled Zack. "And I won't either. Chances like this to kick your ass don't come along very often." He took a stance as well.

Finally, the bell tolled which signaled for the match to start. Both stayed relatively still, the only thing being heard was the breathing of the people all around. They eyed each other cautiously, waiting for the other to make the first move so they could launch the counter attack that would give them initial control of the opening portion of this fight.

To everyone's surprise, they charged each other at the same time. They met in the center of the ring, where they caught the other's opening punch. Zack and Ivana quickly launched into a grapple, both pushing as hard as they could for superiority over the other.

Zack couldn't believe how strong Ivana was. She had to be a man in a female's body to have the kind of strength she had. He couldn't push her back! This was going nowhere fast, so this called for a different tactic. He didn't like it, but it would have to suffice. He gave in to the grapple he had going to allow the inertia to force Ivana to come to him.

However, Ivana had been expecting this move, and she decided to capitalize on it. As he let go, she leapt into the air, and drove her knee right into his chin. The force of the blow knocked the Canadian down. As she walked back over to her side of the ring, the referee began to start the count. If he counted to ten and Zack hadn't gotten up, this would be the fastest, and the most glorious victory she had in the ring.

To her half dismay and half excitement, the pervert had found his way back to his feet at eight. So this meant she could land some more blows on this ass.

To Zack, his chin was throbbing like an overworked heart. But he was determined not to let that happen again. Ivana had read him like a book. He wasn't going to let her read another page. Ivana charged at him again. He was quick and was able to backpedal from a midair kick. But she didn't stop there. Zack saw Ivana come in with a right to his head, and thus he saw his chance. Using the same move he used in the previous round, he caught her fists in his cupped hands and spun around to his right. Using Ivana's inertia and his movements, he was now behind her. Upon the finish of his revolution he delivered a karate chop to the back of her head.

Ivana felt the whack to the back of her head. As she stumbled forward from the blow, she managed to catch herself and turn back around. 'How did he do that?' she wondered. 'With one move, he was behind me and in prime position to strike me. I mustn't let that happen again.' She felt the back of her head. That hit did indeed hurt. She tried to tell herself that pain is in her mind and she tried to empty her mind of the pain.

"What's wrong Ivana?" taunted Zack. "Am I tougher than you thought?"

"You wish." She quickly closed her hands into a fist and ran back into him again. This time her fist ran into his forearm. Zack then stepped back and tried a high right kick to the side of her head, which she blocked with her left arm. Ivana then dropped to the floor in an attempt to sweep Zack off his remaining foot.

The Canadian saw this and on his left foot did a big hop back, avoiding a nasty trip attempt. He then jumped back trying a kick-punch-trip combo of his own. Ivana however, blocked the kick, blocked his punch even easier, and like Zack did earlier jumped out of the way of his trip.

"Running out of ideas are we?" asked Ivana in a sarcastically nice voice.

Zack didn't reply and charged back quickly. For about a minute or so, the two continued to exchange punches, kicks and various other moves not seen before by anyone else.

Ivana had been leading Zack on for the last few hits as she was setting up her plan. Seeing an opening in his defenses, she capitalized. Using her arms, she pushed his arms out, and then delivered a nasty toe kick to his solar plexus. This of course took the wind out of Zack and almost brought him to his knees.

Before Zack knew it, Ivana had gotten behind him, placed her arms under his arms, and then applied pressure on the back of his head while pulling his shoulders back. Apparently, she was going to try and defeat him using this submission hold. Of course it was taking its effect, as those in the audience could see that Mr. Casanova was wracked with pain on his face.

"That's it Ivana!" screamed Asuka from the ringside. "Make that bastard beg for mercy!"

"C'mon Zack!" yelled Elly from the other side. "Don't let that bitch walk all over you!"

"Give up Zack?" teased Ivana as she tightened her grip. "You know, I might accidentally break something if you don't give up soon."

"The… hell… I'll give up… to a… communist bitch!" he managed to say. An idea then hit him harder than the pain he was in. She had forced a lot of her weight on him, but if he could overcome the pain he was in with pure strength, then he might be able to stage a counterattack. He was still bent over, but now he tried to rise to his feet. It was tough, but he might be able to do it, if he hurried.

Ivana sensed this and decided it was time to let go, and that she had done all the damage she could here. But as she tried to let go he had grabbed her arms. And since he was taller than she was, he had picked her up off the ground. She was trapped!

"Good night," he whispered before falling back onto the ground, with Ivana as his cushion. Unfortunately, the fall for Ivana was far from cushy. Zack then made his way back over to his corner, where the official began to give the fallen Russian girl the count.

'All right, that did it,' thought Zack as he heard the count get higher and higher. But he sharply turned around when he didn't hear anything after seven. All he saw was the girl he had 'crushed' a few seconds ago. And oh man did she look mad! She had a few wounds on her face, and blood coming from her lips.

Once she wiped the blood away she growled in an inhuman voice, "You'll wish you hadn't done that."

"What?" replied Zack in a confused voice. "Uh if I got my cards right, you tried to break my neck, along with ripping out both my shoulders. So now you're grumpy that I countered your attack and ruined your beautiful complexion?"

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that I crush you," she snarled back.

"Whoa! Relax! This is just a test of skill, not a fight to the death."

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"Do you see that Rei?"

"Indeed I do Brother."

"What do you see?" asked Misato who didn't like being left out.

"It did not come to my attention until now," Rei continued. "But I believe Zack may have found the key to winning this fight."

"What's the key?" demanded Misato. She was worried that her bet on Ivana was about to go to waste with the explanation Rei and Shinji were about to give.

"Well Misato, haven't you noticed how relaxed Zack appears to be, compared with Ivana who has gotten frustrated over the last move?" asked Shinji.

"Yes, but I don't get it," said Misato.

"When one is calm, even when in a difficult situation they can still think and act logically and not act on impulses brought on by fear or anger. Commander Ikari always taught me to be calm no matter what situation I was on so I could properly plan how to get out of any problems with as minimal problems as possible." Rei then concluded, "As long as Zack stays calm and Ivana infuriated, he will inevitably win this match."

'Oh no,' thought Misato. 'That's my beer money I bet on this match!'

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It wasn't his style, but Zack knew that as long as he remained calm, played defense, and got in a few hits every now and then, he might have a shot at winning this match. Not only was he able to easily block some of her punches and kicks, but also he had found moments where he could dodge some of her moves.

"You know… if you don't… whoa… relax… you're never gonna… hit me!" said Zack as he continued to play defense. "Your rage is…. just going… to burn you out."

"Shut up and fight me… you coward!" roared Ivana as she continued to throw attack after attack.

"Fine." Zack stopped moving around and held his ground. 'Come on Ivana,' he thought to himself. 'Attack me head on. This is your chance, to seal the victory for me.'

Ivana then ran at him in a head on charge. Zack decided to mimic her move by also running at her. In a flash they had both run past the other. They appeared to both be frozen in time before Ivana spoke. "Well now what does your preaching tell you?"

"Nothing really, other than that I want Elly to give me a kiss because I just won," answered Zack in a relaxed tone.

"What do you mea… urgh!" Ivana then clutched her lower chest and dropped to her knees, and then the rest of her body hit the floor.

Asuka was ecstatic. "Come on Ivana! Get up! Don't let that pervert win! You almost got him!"

Ivana struggled to return to her feet. But she had found it increasingly difficult. And as the count neared ten, she felt her confidence dwindling before she knew it. Zack had figured out her strategy and then turned the tables on her. Although she had made back to her feet by eight, the exhaustion, the pain, and everything else that had happened had come full circle, as she collapsed back to the floor.

There and then, the referee ordered the match to stop, and declared Zack the winner by a technical knockout. As he went to raise Zack's hand up as the winner, he was surprised to see Zack run over to Ivana to see if she was alright.

"Yo Ivana! You there?" Zack asked as he tried to shake the girl back into consciousness. "Aw crap, I think I overdid it," he said when she didn't wake up.

The referee also took a look at the worn out girl. "I think she'll be alright son. There'll be a medical crew here shortly." He then led Zack to the center of the ring where he raised Zack's hand up in the air, officially declaring him the victor.

The rest of the evening went on as planned. Once Misato received her BMW that she won by sponsoring Zack in this match, she wanted to immediately take it for a spin. Once Ivana had regained consciousness and her and Zack were both looked over by a doctor, they were released to go home. With a little help from Section 2, Zack and Ivana rather humourously were brought back to Misato's apartment in wheelchairs.

"Ah, now this is the champion's ride," declared Zack into the night.

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"I think it's time now, don't you agree Master?"

"Hmm, let me think on this one."

Two of the five people from before were standing in what looked like a laboratory. It was the shortest one and the second tallest of the five. At the center of their attention, was a tank filled with an unknown fluid with a young man floating in the tank.

"Master?" called the short one.

The taller one turned to the smaller one. He could see a wicked smile upon his leader's face. "I think it's time. Awaken him," he commanded.

"Send a charge through the tank, and then drain it," said the small one to the other technicians in the room.

At his command, a technician inputted a command. The body jumped for a moment, then settled back down. It floated to the ground as the fluid drained. Once the fluid had drained, the man had gone down to being on one knee.

"Remove the capsule," was the next command.

The glass dome was lifted up high enough so that the young man would be able to walk out.

"Vladimir," the small one said. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," the man bent down hissed.

"Rise," commanded the tall one.

At the command given, the boy slowly rose to his feet. Once he had, some technicians placed a robe on the boy to cover him up. His head still bent down, he asked a question, "How long has it been?"

"Several months," answered the small one. "We were able to heal your injuries. And very soon, you will be able to take your revenge."

The boy began to laugh quietly, and then his laugh got louder. "Oh yes!" he boomed in a heavy Russian accent. He lifted his head up, revealing his brown hair and blue eyes. He also had a scar on his left cheek. "I can't wait! I want to go kill her now! Where is she? Where is Ivana?"

"Patience young one," said the taller one. "We have some things that we need to do first. And I promise you, she will come to you, and you will have your chance."

"Good," replied Vladimir. "I hope you're ready Ivana. Ready for your rematch with the Russian Reaper!"

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Ivana shot up in bed abruptly. For some reason, something caused her to wake up. She felt a chill go through the room. Had Casanova left a window open? She looked around to see that Rei was awake as well.

"Do you feel that Rei?" asked Ivana. "Do you feel as if the temperature has dropped sharply?"

"Yes I do," answered Rei. "But it is not as if one left a window open or turned down the temperature. Something is stirring, and whatever it is, I do not feel it is good."

"Ah. I'm going to go for a walk," said Ivana. Despite the pain she was in from earlier that day, she was still able to get up and pace about. She passed by the couch where the pervert in question was sleeping. Rei was right that he did not leave the window open. But she still felt that chill. She made her way to the balcony and stared out at the stars.

'It seems peaceful enough out here,' she thought. 'A cool night as expected. But why do I feel as if it is even colder out here than it's supposed to be? And why does my heart hurt?' she asked herself as she placed a hand where her heart is.

'I can't help but feel Rei is right. Something horrible is going to happen.'

A/N: I'd like to thank you all for your patience over the past 20 or so days. The chaos I had been through had put me into a slump. But I hope that slump will soon be over. And I also have tons of Zany Antic ideas in the wings as well too.

A/O/N: I'm glad to say this saga has officially begun. I hope this trumps the Iron Maiden Saga by a long shot.

A/O/O/N: I know this seemed like a filler dealing mostly with OCs, but it won't be come next chapter. Please bear with me on this.

Until 65, be cool!


	65. Project V Part 2: Emergency

A/N: Wow! 664 reviews! We're almost there! 336 to go! And the only people I can depend on are you readers! You guys and gals rock!

A/O/N: And for those that claim they are offering "CC", at least be a little more helpful than just saying, "sub par". Because it looks like you want to flame but have some sense in you not to go through with it. Nonetheless, it still pisses me off, those who choose not to be helpful when they see problems. Hats off to the helpful, my middle finger to the hurtful.

And now I introduce you to the second part of the Project V Saga. Now that Vladimir is awake after being thought to have been dead, what will he do? Let's rock!

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"How long is this going to take Asuka?"

"Well if you'd quit squirming and whining like a baby, I'd be done sooner!"

"But… OW! You're so rough with that comb!"

"Shut up! I'm almost done!"

Asuka had bluntly decided that Shinji's hairdo was rather dull and bland. So she decided to give her boyfriend a quick spiff-up in the bathroom. Unfortunately, it was like a mother tending to her child with Shinji's complaining about Asuka being too rough.

"Yo Mamma Asuka, keep it down in there. Some of us are still waking up," called out a voice from the table. It was Zack, and already causing trouble right off the bat.

In response, she instinctively jerked one of her hands, which unfortunately held the comb, which had Shinji's hair in it, so he got jerked too. "Shut up Dämliches Arschloch!" Asuka shot back. "You've never looked good in your entire life! At least give Shinji a chance!"

"Watch your language young lady," called out Misato from the kitchen.

Meanwhile out in the kitchen, Misato was the one cooking and the bacon and sunny side up eggs already looked like hell. Not that Ivana looked much better. She looked as white as the glass of milk Rei was sipping on. And Zack was reading a copy of the Tokyo-3 Times.

As Misato decided to look away from the mess in the pans, she noticed how pale Ivana was. "Say Ivana, are you okay? You don't look so well."

"I don't think so," replied Ivana, "I've felt horrible since the moment I woke up this morning. And I felt a real chill last night as well."

"I got an idea," suggested Misato. "I'll make you some green tea. Shinji drinks it all the time. It's usually why he always has such great health." As one would expect of Misato, she left the stove unattended to turn on the kettle to get the water boiling.

'Breakfast will not be pleasant this morning,' thought Rei to herself.

'Uh oh,' thought Zack as he saw Misato leave the stove unattended to get the kettle going. He went back to his newspaper, hoping to find something interesting to read.

"There! All done!" said Asuka from the bathroom. "Go show everyone Shinji! Maybe I should become a hairdresser when I get older!"

So now once more Misato's attention was shifted, along with everyone else's to the boy coming out of the bathroom. Basically, his hair was obviously well combed and gelled back. And Asuka even added a little curl at the front for a little flash of style.

"Gotta say Shinji, not bad at all," commented Zack.

"Maybe Asuka is better off as a hairdresser," put in Ivana.

"Sometimes a change is required," added Rei.

"Wow Shinji," said Misato. "That hairstyle looks good on you. Now if you were only fifteen years older…"

"Why don't you keep your eyes off my boyfriend and back on the stove!" shot out Asuka.

"Hey relax Asuka," replied Misato. "I was just saying…" she trailed off as her eyes went back to the stove to see what had occurred. Another disaster that consisted of burnt eggs and bacon blacker than the tires of a car.

"Und wieder was für die Tonne... " sighed Asuka.

This didn't get Misato's spirits down. "So anyone up for going out for breakfast? You can all be late for school today."

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Gendo Ikari's Office (Please turn up the heat)

"Have my winnings been collected yet?" asked Gendo to an employee.

"Yes sir," the nervous employee replied. "You have won 135 million yen from yesterday's fight."

"I see. Very well, you are dismissed," said Gendo. Once the employee left, Gendo returned to his current matters. Some reports had indicated that a coup was breaking out in Russia. Since Russia had a NERV base, it was imperative that he found out what was going on for sure. He had tried numerous times to contact the head of NERV Russia, but each time gave no reply.

Now Fuyutski had come into his office. "Still no contact from any news organizations in Russia," he conceded.

"This is bad indeed," said Gendo. "If the wrong people get their hands on power in Russia, they will likely gain access to the NERV base there. They would easily have the technology to continue what many others tried to do so long ago: conquer the world."

"And a preemptive strike by us, let alone any country to stop the madness is out of the question, as we are kept rather under watch by every other country in the world," put in Fuyutski.

"Exactly, which is why I would rather much contact someone to find out the situation. Using normal means won't really happen until order is restored, be it by the government in power, or by whoever started this coup."

"And the UN?" wondered Fuyutski.

"Doing their usual," answered Gendo. "Twiddling their thumbs. And the Russian ambassador to the UN is staying rather silent about this issue."

A/N: I find the UN rather useless too.

"Have you been able to get in contact with NERV in Russia?"

"Unfortunately not," replied Gendo. "And I find it very disturbing that they have not sent any sort of message out period." He thought for a moment before making his decision. "Have the EVAs ready to launch immediately, but do not go to First Stage Alert."

"And the children?"

"When the time comes, I will summon them before me," finished Gendo. "As for everyone else, they are to continue their usual business."

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"How is the coup going Master?" asked a voice with that of a child's.

"It is going as expected. The Russian government should fall within a week or less, pending Vladimir wants to have a warm up with the Russian army," said the older of the two. "If he is not yet ready, I predict we will crush them in two weeks."

The two figures, clad always in complete black were looking at a screen. It consisted of a military position being suddenly attacked by a group of people who one would think they're rebels or terrorists trying to overthrow the government. "And as expected," the older one continued, "the government thinks it's Chechnyan terrorists making a comeback with the boldest move they have ever pulled in history, as these attacks are happening all over the place within Russia." Another question came to the leader's mind. "Speaking of Vladimir, how is his sync ratio coming along?"

"He's doing exceptionally well," replied the small one. "He started out around 35. And as we put him through some training exercises, his sync rose to the low fifties. And as we decided to test his mettle against some lesser demons, his sync rose to the mid-late sixties."

"Ah, so he hasn't lost his lust for power and superiority over others. And the fact that he can spill his opponent's blood gives him that rush he wants to be even more powerful. I wish I could have seen that lust myself."

"You should next time I put him through an exercise," said the short one. "He can still wield that scythe with incredible precision. It's almost as if he never spent time in that recovery tank."

"I see. It is all going according to plan then. Hmm, maybe we can speed this up by telling him that if he acts quickly and viciously, he will draw her to him that much sooner."

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School

Of course, as expected the kids were indeed late for school. But with a little explanation from Misato as to why they were late, being that nobody should start the school day without a good morning breakfast, the kids were excused for being late. However, because Ivana still looked rather pale, trumping Rei in paleness even. Well Rei isn't as pale as she used to be, but pale enough for Misato to forbid Ivana to attend school until she got some colour back in her face.

Other than that, the day seemed to be going as expected in Rei's opinion. Rei didn't feel the chill that she and Ivana felt last night, but Rei could sense that something was amidst out there. And whatever it was, it was anything but good. She tried her best to bury the thought and concentrate on her schoolwork, as she did not want her good grades to falter.

As she took a quick look around the classroom, she noticed a few boys were looking at her. Her thoughts flashed back to the time when she had first returned to school. Everyone was shocked by the way she looked upon her return. Rei's excuse at the time was that she had gone in for a complete makeover. To her luck she had managed to avoid being called a freak show. Her dual hair colours didn't at all impress the teachers, but it unfortunately wasn't her fault. To avert trouble in that department, Rei had originally requested hair dye to make her hair completely brown, but Dr. Akagi ordered against it for reasons Rei didn't understand.

She remembered how Ashika (Shinji and Asuka's merged state) once told her to open herself up and make herself more appealing. Saying it was one thing. Doing it was another thing altogether. Rei wouldn't mind speaking to a few of them, but she felt her tone and personality would give off a vibe that she was a dull girl. And really, the only boy she could open up to, was her brother Shinji. Perhaps when the opportunity arrived, she could speak to him about her troubles.

A voice interrupted her thoughts, "Rei can you answer question number eight please?" It was the teacher. Back to reality for the former albino.

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Misato's Apartment

Ivana still wasn't feeling better. So Misato told her to stay home till she got better. Now she was sitting on Zack's couch (after putting on a clean sheet and placing an air freshener) in the room. She and Misato were watching some Japanese soap opera. While the Russian girl herself didn't care that much about it, Misato on the other hand was wiping tear after tear from her eyes.

"Doesn't this make you want to cry Ivana?" asked Misato as she reached for the tissue box… again. "This story makes me so sad. How that woman just left him after he provided her comfort and a sense of identity. Like how could she do that?"

Ivana just sighed and gave Misato a look that said 'Are you stupid or something?' "Didn't you do the exact same thing with Kaji when you were in college?"

Misato's face began to go white with absolute shock. 'Oh God, where did she learn that? Does she know everything?' "Uh, who told you that?" she inquired.

"Kaji told me that," Ivana answered. "He told me how he was like your personal comforter, and then you abruptly broke off with him seven years ago."

"Well that's his point of view I guess," said Misato. "It probably wasn't the best move I've ever made. But now, just between you and me, I want to get back together with him sometime soon. Don't tell Asuka or anyone for that matter. She used to have a mad crush on Kaji before she went head over heels for Shinji."

"Count on that," smirked Ivana. "Been a while since I bothered to listen to a little gossip."

"Good," said Misato, relieved that Ivana didn't know the VERY sensitive details of what went on. "Say, you're starting to look a little better. You still up for cooking tonight? I want to try that borscht recipe soon."

"Perhaps."

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Gendo's Office

This was getting frustrating. His attempt to find out what was going in Russia was far from successful. But then an idea came to mind. He picked up the phone and dialed a number into it. He then spoke English into the phone, _"I am Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari. Put Commander Moorehead on the phone immediately." _Gendo didn't get anymore frustrated, so he must have gotten the response he hoped for. To say the truth, he was listening to 'Tea and Crumpets' again for at least a minute. Well at least this was better than the 'Cuppycake' song that someone recently installed into NERV Japan's hold tone.

After what felt like an eternity of listening to what some music critics would deem as absolute garbage, a man finally answered the phone. _"Yes Gendo," _the voice said. It was that of Commander James Moorehead.

"_I'm sure you are aware of the situation in Russia,"_ replied Gendo getting straight to the point.

"_Yes I am. And I bet you are wishing for answers. One of the benefits of being within NATO was that we got access to spy technology that would enable us to get an idea of what is going on within Russia's borders."_

"_How bad is it?" _asked the Supreme Commander.

"_It's worse than what we imagined,"_ replied Moorehead. _"There is indeed a coup breaking out of some sorts in Russia. Some sources say rebels from Chechnya are fueling them. Others say that these rebels are getting their support from somewhere inside Russia. Basically, the rebels are probably as well equipped as the military itself. They may actually overthrow the government."_

"_What's the status of the NERV base in Russia?" _was Gendo's most important question.

"_Unfortunately, even I do not know,"_ said Moorehead. _"But I will keep you posted if anything new develops."_

"_Very well. I will be waiting. And let me know if NERV Russia sends out any messages of any sorts."_

"_Count on it. Because I have a very bad feeling about this."_

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Hillside outside Tokyo-3

"I think I'm starting to rub off on you Shinji."

"Why's that?"

"Thinking of getting away out here so we can stay away from Casanova and the antics at home for a while. Pure genius. Genius, which I emit that you have finally picked up."

"I guess so. I guess I'm lucky to have fallen in love with someone as smart and as beautiful as you."

"You sure are."

Asuka and Shinji were stretched out on the grass in the place where Misato showed Shinji Tokyo-3 a year ago. Asuka was a tad frustrated that she hadn't had much time alone with Shinji as of late. So Shinji suggested they go to that place after school, as Zack hadn't known of this place yet. They could spend as much time here as they liked.

Asuka then rolled her slender body on top of Shinji's slim body. "Ah I feel like I could lie here all day," she sighed resting her forehead against his. "No Misato, no Casanova, no EVA, no Black Angels, just us." She kissed him softly on the lips. "I hope nothing ever breaks us apart."

"Me too," answered Shinji. "Now that I know what we can do together, I couldn't imagine us being apart." He wraps his arms around her back and then kisses her back. "Oh I love you so much Asuka."

"Oh stop stealing the lines out of mouth silly," the girl on top replied.

"Sorry," sighed Shinji.

"Do you want to make up for it?" asked Asuka with a smile.

"Sure."

"Then don't make up. Make out."

Within a second, their lips connected once more, as the two shared their love with each other. As their kissing went French style, Shinji tightened his grip around her, pulling her as close to him as he could. Asuka in a sense melted into his caress and his kiss, letting herself sink into his body."

If the human body didn't require oxygen, our favourite couple would still be kissing well into the next chapter. However, Shinji and Asuka ARE human, and because of that, they had to break off their kiss to gulp some much needed air.

"Great as always," commented Asuka on their kiss. "Let's do it again."

And so they kissed. It was basically a repeat of last time. This got Asuka to break off the kiss early. However, Shinji didn't get it. "What's wrong?"

And so, the redhead would have to educate the boy. "Look Shinjikins, when it's just the two of us out here by ourselves, you can let go a bit. You don't have to hold yourself back."

"What do you mean Asuka? I don't get you sometimes."

"I mean, when we're intimate like this, and Misato and Casanova aren't around, it's usually okay to take an inch if you know what I mean?" Asuka clarified.

"A-are you sure that's okay Asuka?" inquired Shinji.

"Of course it's okay idiot," answered Asuka playfully. "I know you like touching me, and I know you won't hurt me. So just reach out… I trust you."

She then laid her head on his collarbone to see what he would do. And then he reacted. Shinji took her head in his hands, and kissed her again. As he did such, he began to caress her hair and back with his soft hands. It seemed to be working so far, in Asuka's opinion. She could feel his hands sliding down her back, over her skirt, and resting on her white panty-covered butt. She shivered at the feel, but only for a moment.

Asuka let Shinji kiss her a bit more before breaking off. She felt some pressure on her thighs, which OBVIOUSLY meant a positive reaction from Shinji. She looked at him and grinned, "You like what you're feeling, don't you? You like your hands on my sexy ass huh?"

Shinji offered her a weak smile, "I sure do I guess."

"Gimme a squeeze then, if you dare," she challenged him.

It took a few seconds, but responding to the challenge seemed to be what he did best, as he straddled and squeezed her butt for a little while, before bringing his eager hands to an easing stop.

"Ah, that felt nice. Thank you," said Asuka as she nuzzled his cheek. "You've taken another step closer to becoming a man. It's been a long tough road, but with my help, you're more than guaranteed you'll make it."

"Uh, when will I become a man then?" Shinji begged the question.

"First night of our marriage. That night, I promise, you will become a man."

They continued to lie there, just letting time pass itself by. But Shinji and Asuka for while just didn't give a damn about whatever else was going on. They just lay there for the best of an hour so, with both eventually dozing off. As much as they would both like to stay in dreamland, Shinji's cell phone going off brought them both back to reality.

"Wow, it's gotten rather dark out," said Asuka who finally got herself off Shinji as she looked out at the sunset. "By the way, who called?"

"It's Misato," replied Shinji. "And she dropped a voice message."

"I gotta hear this," said Asuka. "I wonder what that old woman has to say."

Shinji pressed a few buttons, and then they could hear Misato's message being played on the phone. "Hi kids. I have no idea where you two are at the moment. Section 2 is probably getting lazy or they're picking up hookers, not that I'd mind being picked up by a nice looking man. Knowing how you two are always together, Asuka is probably ascending you prematurely into manhood Shinji. As much as I don't want to interrupt this great moment in your young and horny teenage life, dinner is almost ready. I don't care how deep in you are, pull it out and get home soon. And tell Asuka to brush her teeth when she gets in if she did what I hope she didn't do. And at least look like you haven't done anything, as that would set a very bad example for your sister. Oh shit, I think she just heard me say all that. Anyways, get home soon and tell me all about it. Bye bye!"

Just when they thought Misato couldn't scar the two anymore than she already had with her idea of sexual humour, she had just scarred them once more.

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Gendo Ikari's Office

The situation in Russia wasn't getting much better at all. Maybe he should have sent some EVAs over to Russia earlier when he had the chance. He had been in contact as well with NERV allies in Germany and America. All pretty much provided the same information.

Gendo also heard that the UN was going to hold a meeting on this matter. Not that a meeting would do that much, other than maybe disclose a few extra details. Russia itself was in no position to be commenting, as almost all media outlets had been shut down in and out of Russia.

Suddenly, his phone began to ring. "What is it?" he quickly spoke into the phone once picked up.

"Commander Ikari, it's Lieutenant Ibuki. We've received a message that was sent out of NERV Russia five minutes ago. Commander Moorehead of England had intercepted the message and then forwarded to us, saying it was of utmost importance."

"Who is the message from?" asked Gendo.

"I don't know sir," replied Maya. "Someone named General Sergei Berezov."

"Send me the message," the commander ordered.

"Already done."

"Good. You are dismissed." He hung up the phone and checked his messages. Sure enough, there was the voice message. Gendo immediately played it through.

There was quite a bit of static, but he could hear a voice speaking in English: _"I don't have much time. I pray someone gets this. I am General Sergei Berezov of NERV Russia. As of twelve hours ago, our country was attacked by an unknown threat. We suspected it to be the rebels of… Chechnya. We made a grave miscalculation. This new enemy is much more powerful than mere rebels. We were overwhelmed in no time. They stormed our military bases and used our own power against us. For the last few hours, these unknown soldiers have pinned down myself and many other military and government officials along with the base's guards. They're unstoppable, and there's no doubt they'll eventually get in and kill everyone. Russia… has fallen."_

Gendo's worst fears had come true. Russia had fallen to an unknown force. And if he knew any better, this attack on such a powerful country was an attempt to merely draw NERV Japan into this, as Russia had requested Gendo's help before and he turned them down due to lack of evidence. And now this country had Russia's military might in its control, so defeating them would not be easy whatsoever.

The message continued. As it played, it showed evidence that the device that sent this message was failing in power. _"Whoever is reading this, if you know a young girl named Ivana Kharlamov, please inform her that she needs to return to Russia now, to save it from… him. He has returned Ivana. Vladimir is back. I know without a doubt in my mind that he is behind this operation. And if I know any better, he has the rest of the world in his crosshairs. Oh no, this device is running out of power. Ivana… you must… stop hi…"_

Apparently, the device had gone dead before the message had completed. Gendo returned to the phone. He dialed Misato's residence. One ring and the phone was picked up.

"Major, bring the Children to me immediately. We have an emergency."

A/N: Okay people, you had the right to complain about the lack of SxA romance. Well I hope this rectifies it for a time. Since the attention is coming off Zack like it has for this chapter, perhaps I'll try to return to this trend, until Casanova does something else utterly stupid that makes us all want to know what the dweeb did. And to think I'm Canadian myself!

A/O/N: Now Russia has fallen to an unknown enemy. And that Vladimir is responsible for this. Are our heroes ready to deal with a resurrected bloodthirsty savage? Can they save the world once more? Will my university transfer be approved?

Until 66, be cool!

PS- Oh yeah, this is also the introduction of me having Asuka use some genuine German. This is where the translations for her German speech shall be.

Dämliches Arschloch! Stupid Asshole!

Und wieder was für die Tonne... And again something for the trash can...


	66. Project V Part 3: Call to Action

A/N: And here we are again. Last time, we learned that Russia had been fiercely attacked by an unknown enemy and had been swamped rather quickly. However, the one behind this attack is one by the name of Vladimir Topolov. How will our heroes react to this? How will Ivana react to this? Find out right now!

A/O/N: My university transfer has not been approved yet… as of (9/4/06). TT

A/O/O/N: I'm reposting this chapter so you're all aware that this chapter has been revised.

"Okay Commander, your call interrupted me while I was watching my favourite show, this had better be important!" boomed Zack as all EVA pilots that included Hikari, Toji, Elly, and then Misato walked into the briefing room.

"This is of utter importance," replied Gendo in his calm yet commanding tone, disregarding Zack's blatant sarcasm. "Now all of you take a seat. We have important matters to discuss."

"So what's going on Commanders?" asked Misato of Gendo and Fuyutski.

Gendo began to speak. "In the last twelve hours, we have been monitoring to the best of our abilities, what looks like a civil war that had abruptly broken out in Russia."

"What? A civil war?" shot up Ivana suddenly at the news of war breaking out in her home country.

"Yes," replied Gendo. "However, we are unable to determine who exactly this organization is working for."

"What do you know then Commander?" inquired Misato.

"We only know that the country has fallen to these terrorists within twelve hours," said Gendo.

There were many gasps of shock given in the room. It deeply surprised everyone at how such a powerful country such as Russia could have fallen. Sure, its army did have its inefficiencies here and there, but it was powerful enough to challenge the military might of the United States for the longest time. Perhaps there was the possibility that its government could be overthrown due to the lack of organization, but to have the government toppled within twelve hours. It was unheard of.

Ivana, who was the most worried about what was going on pressed Gendo for more information. "Commander, do you know any more information other than what you told us?"

"Indeed I do. You may not like what you are about to hear though. Do you wish to hear more?"

"Yes. I need to know," Ivana declared.

"Fuyutski, prepare the recording," ordered Gendo.

Fuyutski produced an audio disc, which he placed into a computer drive in the room. Everyone listened as the disc played out its recorded information. There was a lot of static for a few seconds, but a voice could be made out in English: _"I don't have much time. I pray someone gets this. I am General Sergei Berezov of NERV Russia. As of twelve hours ago, our country was attacked by an unknown threat. We suspected it to be the rebels of… Chechnya. We made a grave miscalculation. This new enemy is much more powerful than mere rebels. We were overwhelmed in no time. They stormed our military bases and used our own power against us. For the last few hours, these unknown soldiers have pinned down myself and many other military and government officials along with the base's guards. They're unstoppable, and there's no doubt they'll eventually get in and kill everyone. Russia… has fallen."_

Ivana, for the second time that day, had gone as pale as a ghost from the words that were being voiced by her former superior were telling anyone who heard about what was happening in her home country. But nothing in the living world could prepare her for what Sergei said next.

"_Whoever is reading this, if you know a young girl named Ivana Kharlamov, please inform her that she needs to return to Russia now, to save it from… him. He has returned Ivana. Vladimir is back. I know without a doubt in my mind that he is behind this operation. And if I know any better, he has the rest of the world in his crosshairs. Oh no, this device is running out of power. Ivana… you must… stop hi…"_

Once the recording ended, Ivana bolted from the room with her hands covering her mouth. Misato then bolted after her, leaving the others in shock.

"Whoa," said Toji. "That was weird."

"Vladimir?" thought Hikari out loud. "Who is he Commander? Does she know him?"

"From what I have gathered," began Gendo, "is that Ivana and Vladimir were very close while they both lived in Russia. Close enough that they were intimate with each other. They were also both in training to become EVA pilots. She was the pilot of Unit 09, and he was the pilot of Unit 10. However, according to what intelligence we have, another civil war had broken out in Russia. Rebels had sought to turn the country back into a communist state. I believe now that it was an attempt by SEELE to obtain Russia's weapons so they would have nearly no opposition to achieving their goals. At the time, Ivana sided with the government. Vladimir sided with the rebels. Their differences pitted them against each other."

"And what happened Father?" asked Shinji.

"It was a short, but fierce war. It eventually came down to a final battle between the two in the Evangelions." Gendo than concluded, "Ivana walked away, Vladimir didn't."

Realization dawned upon Shinji's mind. It was now beginning to make sense now as to why Ivana acted the way she did when it came to talking about her past. He remembered when Ivana had told him a small fragment about her past, when she brought up a boyfriend she once had. This Vladimir Topolov had to be the boy she was talking about. It was making sense now. He lusted for power, which was his joining the rebellion for control of Russia. And he had paid the ultimate price for such lusts. And his betrayal of Ivana must have ripped her heart in two. Her wound was that she had to carry around forever, not just his betrayal, but also the fact that his blood was on her hands. And to make the plot sicken as she was trying to put her past behind her, Vladimir had somehow returned as evil as he was before, bringing those horrible memories back to the surface of her mind.

"So what is the plan of action Commander?" inquired Rei. "Are we going to send the EVAs to Russia?"

"That is the initial idea," said Fuyutski. "But we will withhold our plans until more information is available. I advise you eight not to make any plans for a while, for we may be deploying you to Russia to assist with toppling this threat."

"That is all for now, you all which includes Pilot Kharlamov and Major Katsuragi are dismissed," finished Gendo. "Go get some rest, for you may be thrown into action very soon."

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NERV Russia

"Ah, what a fabulous facility," thought a hooded man aloud as he walked within the building's many corridors. "The technology here will do wonders to help forward my plans."

He paced along until he came to the main control room, where NERV Russia would conduct its combat operations from. It had everything from data on Units 09 and 10, plans for military tactics, plans for weapons for the EVAs, knowledge of where all Russia's nuclear weapons were, up to date knowledge on all government officials, and even trackers placed on certain individuals who the Russians eyed with suspicion.

A junior officer approached the hooded man and began to speak, "Master, Pilot Topolov has just docked."

"Good," replied the man. "Tell him to come before me."

"Yes sir." The officer went off to deliver the news.

And now he had a few more minutes to take a look around before Vladimir returned to request any further demands of him. At least Vladimir knew his place and that he would always take orders from the man, regardless of what they would be. And those who didn't know their place, the man wouldn't kill them for their insolence, as he was not that kind. Turning to his other officers, he spoke "What's the status of our… new government?"

"It is coming along very well sir," answered a female officer. "As of an hour ago, Russia has once more regained its former glory and is now a communist state. We are once more known as the United Socialists of the Soviet Republic, a nation that gave even the Americans the chills."

"Good. So everything is going as planned then?"

"Yes sir. Our forces are mobilizing and preparing for the next phase of our operation," the officer concluded.

"Excellent. Keep up the good work." He then looked at all of the workers in the room. "All of you, you're doing a great deed today. Not just for your country, but you're paving the road towards a great future."

"Indeed they are," replied a voice from behind the man. He turned around to see Vladimir, changed out of his plugsuit and into a military officer's uniform. "I must admit it felt great to be back in Unit 10 again."

"And did my little… push help at all?" asked the hooded man with curiosity in his voice.

"Yes Master, it made me feel like I was in absolute control," said Vladimir. "If I had that power before, I never would have lost to Ivana." The muscles on his face began to twitch with just the thought of his ex's name. "Damn! I want to kill her now! I'll make her pay for what she did to me!" he said alluding to the scar on his face.

"Relax my child," said the man. "I promise you, once she finds out what has happened to her country, I'm sure she'll wish to come back to 'save' her motherland."

"She had better," Vladimir growled. "I'm going to go get some rest."

"You do that. I'll have someone inform you when we're ready to begin the next phase of our plan." Once Vladimir left, he snapped his fingers. Within seconds, a much shorter person, who was also wearing a hood faded into existence.

"Yes, you called for me?" asked the short one.

"Yes I did," said the tall one. "Has the UN spoken at all about this?"

"As far as I know, the UN has begun an emergency conference," replied the short one. "They're scared shitless. They may actually do something about Russia's becoming a communist state."

"Can't say I'm not surprised," chuckled the taller one. "But then again, Gendo Ikari knows better than to attempt a preemptive strike to try and stop our takeover of Russia. The world would then somehow make Ikari look like the bigger enemy when everyone is likely sure that he has no desire to conquer the world."

A/N: My request to transfer by this time was rejected. (9/7/06) Moving on.

"But knowing the seriousness of the situation, the UN may actually pull itself together and do something about this."

The taller one was silent for a few moments, but then spoke. "Let them come. Saves us the trouble of us going to them. However, they cannot act immediately, as we have not attacked any other countries yet. But our… status will definitely be among their main discussions. Regardless of what they do, everything is going as planned. Inform Vladimir and our field commanders that we're commence the next phase within four hours. Poland won't take too long."

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Misato's Flat - Tread Quietly

Misato lingered over only the third beer of the night at the kitchen table. This had really been a horrible night indeed. Once Gendo had revealed that some boy named Vladimir Topolov was alive, with Ivana presuming that he was dead, she had bolted for the women's bathroom where she obviously was throwing up. In a sense, it reminded Misato of how Asuka had dealt with suppressed memories that were abruptly brought back to the surface. In that bathroom stall, Misato found herself comforting the sobbing Russian girl without much idea how to properly comfort her. But nonetheless, being a shoulder to cry on helped somewhat, as the guardian was able to convince Ivana to go home with her and go straight to bed. Once the others had gotten home, Misato advised them to get to bed as well because they may be ordered by Commander Ikari on some expedition to Europe or something along those lines.

As she had noticed, the kids had heeded her advice and had all gone to bed around 10:00pmish. After finishing off the third beer, she decided to take a check on all of them. Zack was first, and knowing her luck, he was just as annoying while asleep than he was awake. He was SNORING. And rather loudly now that Misato was paying attention.

"Zack!" she whispered shaking him. He subconsciously responded by snoring louder. "Zack!" she whispered a little louder.

This time, there was a response. "Elly… no more… twice is enough for me," he muttered in his sleep.

'Oh boy, perverted teenage mind is left on even with the lights out.' "Zack!" she called to him raising her voice a little bit.

"Wha!" he called out snapping into consciousness. Looking around, he saw Misato standing over him. "Oh hi Misato. What's wrong?"

"You're snoring, that's what," responded Misato.

"Oh sorry. That happens sometimes. G'night."

"Goodnight Casanova. And try not to snore," said Misato patting the boy on the head before going off to check on the others.

So next up, it was the 'Ikari's' room. Or at least that would be Asuka's last name once she married Shinji. Oh that would be fun to tease them with. However, things seemed peaceful and Asuka and Shinji got along rather well. And as Zack had painfully been taught many times that disrupting that stability was not wise, Misato was their guardian and would likely not be harmed as a result of any teasing she did. A privilege Casanova didn't have.

Sliding open their door, Misato noticed the two were fast asleep with Asuka on top! She wanted to check to see if they still had their clothes on to see if they followed her orders of absolutely no sex whatsoever. But the last thing she needed was Asuka awakening and thus a chain reaction of waking everyone else and the neighbours up as well. Going by what sex instincts she had learned over her… very sexually active life, she gathered many details quickly. First off, they had been kissing quite heavily based on the lipstick on Shinji's face. Second off, Shinji might have been feeling up Asuka again, as Misato noticed her pajama top was somewhat unbuttoned. But the part that concluded that they kept it mostly clean was that the room didn't reek of sex. These two would be off the hook for now, but they would be watched indeed.

Once she carefully closed the door to their room, she proceeded to Rei and Ivana's room. Upon opening the door, she saw the two girls on their respective beds. Rei's eyes had opened in response to Misato opening the door. Their eyes locked for a few seconds. Misato raised a finger perpendicular to her lips indicating for Rei to be quiet. She paced over to check on Ivana. The poor girl had cried herself to sleep apparently as Misato could see the remains of tears that had made their way down her face to the fabric in which she slept on.

With the fact that everyone was sleeping, and one snoring Misato retreated to her room, with the remnants of the third can of beer in hand. As she lay on her bed, a thought came to her: Shinji may have to kill somebody if he gets deployed to Russia! She quickly flashed back to the 13th Angel, where Toji was trapped inside the EVA that was possessed by the Angel. Shinji absolutely refused to fight the Angel for fear of harming or killing Toji. It took an unstable dummy plug to defeat the Angel. Shinji had run away after that battle, but was brought back by the coming of the 14th Angel. And then she remembered how he felt when he had to kill the last Angel, whom was a boy he befriended. That one was a few threads away from completely tearing him apart.

And then there was Asuka. She hadn't seen much of war either or killing people. She probably killed a lot of people during the battle prior to 3rd Impact. But it was all in the heat of the moment and she likely didn't have time to think about it because of the situation she was in. Misato never asked Asuka about that battle, and if she did, Asuka probably wouldn't remember much other than getting torn apart by the EVA Series. Asuka probably wouldn't be as badly affected as Shinji would be, but they were both just children and thus could run a very high risk of shellshock from being on a battlefield, regardless of how tough they thought they could be. That would be enough to mess them both up for a few lifetimes. Before finishing off the last of her beer, she made a mental note to talk to Ritsuko about getting some psychologists available for any of the kids that may have to go to war.

This was really going to suck a lot.

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Gendo Ikari's Office - Bundle up

Gendo Ikari had called the kids and Misato back into the office the very next day. Apparently, he had some new developments.

"There have been new developments," he told the kids and Misato.

"What kind of developments Commander?" asked Misato curiously. She was hoping deep down her worst fears wouldn't be realized.

"As the other members at the UN predicted, Russia is attempting to make moves to expand its newly formed empire to stretch all over Europe," answered Gendo. "The UN has unanimously agreed that Russia must be dealt with by force if they continue their aggression. From what I know now, they are occupying Poland as we speak."

"That's awful," said Misato. "So what are we going to do about this?"

"Since a NERV base was attacked," replied Fuyutski, "we are obliged to assist with liberating the NERV base in Russia. We along with the Japanese government are sending forces to Europe. In a sense, Japan has declared war on Russia."

"Yes, so we are sending our Evangelion Units to Europe to assist our allies with toppling the Russian threat."

Misato had another question, "But what about the impending threat of the Black Angels? We can't send our EVAs to Europe. What if Tokyo-3 gets attacked while we're away?"

"That is true," said Gendo. "That is why only four of the children will be going to Europe, while the other four will remain here to guard Tokyo-3."

Ivana then stood up. "Commander Ikari, may I request that I be one of the four going to Europe. I know the landscape rather well, and I have extensive knowledge of Russia too with it being my home country."

"Very well." Gendo then looked at his papers before speaking again. "The other three that will accompany Pilot Kharlamov will be…"

Everyone held their breaths, wondering if they would be the ones called to war in Europe. Gendo then read out the remaining three names.

"Pilots Harper, Sohryu, and Ikari."

Everyone let out his or her breaths except for Shinji, Asuka and Zack. Sure they had been in battles before, but this would definitely be a first for the three. Sure Zack had his share of gun battles before, but none of them had been in a full-scale war.

"I know this may come off as a shock to you," the commander continued, "but this is necessary." Looking at Shinji, Asuka, and Zack as the next few lines were meant for them he continued, "You may be asking yourselves why I chose you three to go and potentially fight and kill other people. My answer is this. You three and Pilot Kharlamov are best suited for combat riding on your past experiences with the Evangelions." He started with Zack. "Harper, your past experiences with the RCMP in their child officer programs have made you a very efficient candidate to fight whatever awaits you out there."

"Thank you sir," said Zack with his trademark mock salute.

Gendo then faced Asuka. "Pilot Sohryu, Europe in another sense is also your homeland. I understand that you would also want to fight to protect your home country of Germany." Gendo saw determination in the German's eyes. Liking what he saw, he continued, "Knowing how dangerous and powerful our enemy is, Germany is very much at risk of being attacked. This will be difficult and very personal, but I believe you will not let us down."

Gendo at last faced Shinji. "Shinji, this will be by far the most challenging task for you out of all four of you. You yourself have faced challenges and hardships that no child should have ever had to face. But despite everything you've gone through and every task we've thrown your way, you've always managed to come out on top in the end." Shinji's face didn't change, or more rather he got worried about the fact that he may have to kill someone. Gendo concluded, "The task we ask of you is one we should never have enlisted upon you. But you are the only ones who can use the Evangelions. With them at our disposal, is the key to bringing a swift and quick victory in this impending war. I chose you because I believe in you, my son."

After Gendo finished speaking to Shinji, he then changed the subject. "Your plane will be prepared to leave in five hours. That will give you more than enough time to pack anything you may need, finish up anything else you wish to do. Your plane will be leaving for Berlin Germany, where a NERV base."

"Really?" asked Asuka half excited and half shocked. "Germany?"

"That is correct. For now, you are dismissed. Report back here in three hours."

As they all prepared to leave the room, Ritsuko then interjected. "Shinji, Asuka, and Zack. Before you go anywhere, can you come with me? I have some things that we need to discuss."

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Doc Akagi's Office

"Why are Shinji and I here?" Asuka demanded as all parties sat down in her office.

"Because there are some things I want to discuss with you before you leave for Germany to fight what looks like a potential war," Ritsuko curtly answered hoping she could get on with the discussion. Misato had called her early this morning with the request of having a few things to say to the kids before they left for the front lines. As much as she had work to do today getting the Evas ready for transportation, Misato did have a point to this discussion occurring.

"And why is Misato here?" was Asuka's next question.

"I'm your guardian and I want to know any ways I can help as well," Misato replied.

"And why is Zack here?" sneering at the boy sitting a good 6 feet away from her.

"I don't know. I was just asked to come here," the Canadian answered. "Don't take my head off."

"And why is Elly here?"

"Hey, this may be the last time I get to see Zackie, biatch!" Elly shot back.

"Okay, settle down," Ritsuko muttered with a tone of boredom in her voice. "We have some important things to talk about today."

"Such as?" asked Zack.

"The effects that war can have on a person," said Ritsuko. "Believe it or not, war does have its effects on everyone. If you even think for one second that war will not affect you, then you had best wake up from your dream state. What we're here to talk about is, understanding the likely effects of war. If you know what you are walking into, the better prepared you will be for it." She paused for a moment before going on.

"All right, I'm going to ask each of you about your initial thoughts of war and conflict." She turned to Shinji, "Let's start with you Shinji. What's the first thing you think of when you think of war?"

Shinji thought for a few moments, before speaking, "Well my biggest problem would have to be that people always have to die in wars. And worst off, those who don't even want to fight have to die as well."

Ritsuko locked eyes with Shinji, "You are correct Shinji. That is why we have to fight; to protect the innocent. To protect our loved ones so they do not become victims of the enemy. Your loved ones give you something to fight for."

Next Ritsuko turned to Asuka, "What's your first take on war when you think about it?"

"Kicking a ton of enemy ass!" replied Asuka.

"Do you ever look beyond kicking ass?" the doctor sighed. "There's a lot more to war than kicking ass. Have you ever thought of the life-altering effects that war has?"

"No."

"Well obviously there is a lot more Asuka," Ritsuko continued. "Like how it may feel like you ripped a part of yourself out when you killed that enemy soldier a few minutes ago."

And finally, Ritsuko looked at Zack. "So Mr. Casanova, what's your initial take on war?"

Zack immediately responded with, "Let's see: Nazis, Communists, D-Day, V-E-Day, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, V-J-Day, Gulf War, and anything else that involves the good guys sickin it to those imperialistic bastards!" It was sure a damn good thing that he didn't notice the scowls and threatening looks from everyone else in the room. Ritsuko decided to ignore this and moved on.

"It doesn't seem you take the psychological effects of war seriously. Well at least listen then so you might just pick up something." She took a sip of her coffee before speaking, "War is never a good thing, because it usually involves tragic losses of life. As bad as a thing is, it is natural for humans to want to be superior to other humans."

"But why do we have to fight?" demanded Shinji. "Aren't there others who can do this task? Why drop this load on us? We're only kids."

"Shinji, I'm saying this to you because your father believes the threat is darker than it looks," said Ritsuko. "Remember how your father spoke about how Ivana fought Vladimir in her Eva?"

She saw Shinji nod yes in reply, so she continued. "Well according to Russian intelligence, once she defeated Vladimir, the Russian authorities never recovered Unit 10 or Vladimir's body. They had assumed both were destroyed in the impending explosion that occurred when she finished him off. Your father suspects that the dark forces behind SEELE and the Black Angels are what have brought him back. So your father wants to fight an Eva with well another Eva; in our case four of them."

"You're saying that this Vladimir is the backbone behind this new force then? And it's up to us to beat him down?" asked Asuka.

"That is exactly correct," answered Ritsuko. "However I am getting off topic, this isn't what I wished to discuss with you. You're here so that you can understand what war really means and what it does to people."

"And pray tell what do you mean by that?" Asuka demanded, her patience wearing thin.

"Have you ever taken a life before?" Ritsuko sharply replied back, staring hard at the three of them.

"What's that supposed to mean? Of course I've taken lives before; I've taken the lives of the angels."

"Asuka, have you ever had to kill a human before?" Misato interjected.

"No I haven't but what does that have to do with war? So we kill people big deal; they're the enemy," Asuka nonchalantly replied.

"Zack have you?" turning to face the young Canadian.

"Have you forgotten the incident with the Ron already?" he haughtily replied crossing his arms.

"Then would you…" Ritsuko began, before drifting off. "Then again better I do it. Knowing you, you'd blow something this serious way out of context.

"Asuka killing a human being be it self defense or because they're the enemy, will have serious repercussions after you've killed them. The aftereffects of taking a life with your own hands will have a serious impact upon your psyche; it changes you. Misato fully understands this and has dealt with it, but it still haunts her."

Misato sighed sadly as she turned to face them, "Taking another person's life is not easy. You may think it's easy because it's in your head, and you're not in any danger, so you can do anything. But in battle it comes down to one thing: It's you or them; kill or be killed. That is the law of war.

"Let me put it to you this way, as a soldier on the battlefield, you are running around, firing round after round as you fight to survive. Most of your kills will be from a distance, so you do not see the face of your opponent, only his or her body falling. But then you will on occasion come across a group of soldiers. Naturally you will do the instinctive thing and fire away until you run out of bullets or they have all died. In the moments it takes you to move on, you'll see things that you'll later wish you'd never seen."

"Before you would lay the blood soaked, bullet filled bodies of the enemy, most likely dying in their own blood or already dead. And etched on their faces would be the pained expression as the last thing they felt was the hot rounds burrow into their bodies. You run off scoffing it off initially. But then you remember it later on and then you begin to regret ever killing him. You then begin to wonder if that person had any friends or family, maybe even a wife and children back home. It already eats away at you. But it's just as bad for one in the Navy or in your case.

"You may never know the face of your enemy, because you're either too far away or you're in a vessel and all you see is the opposing vessel, so you blow it up. However the gunners who push the buttons to fire the weapons will be tormented; with a simple push of the button, they right there had taken a boatload of lives. Tens of lives, maybe even hundreds drown because their boat had been destroyed. The same will most likely apply to you as you crush tanks, aircrafts, warships and APC alike. Although never knowing the face of your enemy, you will late on regret it and wish you never killed that person. It will always hang over your conscience so long as you live."

"You justify that you killed them in defense or for the honor of your country but in the end it all comes down to the fact that you've taken a human life. That is reality of war." Misato turned to look at Zack to see him sitting quietly in his seat with a hardened expression. She could sympathize with the boy. He had killed before, but she knew the level of killing he would have to do soon would be worse. She hoped that he would be able to pull out of it.

Turning to look at Shinji, she saw how pale he looked. She had tried to dim the violence down but even then it still affected him. Killing never sat well with him, but now he was forced into a situation where killing was a necessity. Misato could only pray that he was strong enough to be able to ask for support. If he isolated himself again she shuddered at the dangerous repercussions of such a response.

Asuka on the other hand although seemed a bit more understanding of the concept still had her arrogant smirk despite it being lessened a bit. Misato worried the most about her for when she found out the dire truth of what killing really meant it would shatter her ego to a level worse than when the 15th angel had attacked.

"Now you just may understand why we decided to have this talk," Ritsuko began after the moment of silence. "Killing isn't a subject to be taken likely, especially with what is currently happening now in Russia. With an Evangelion involved in this along with whatever dark force behind this assault, NERV now has to step in and deploy its forces to assist. If Evas were never involved in this conflict, you kids would likely be at school right now not having to worry about this."

Shinji was about to speak again, but the good doctor interrupted him, "I know you're wondering why you Shinji. It's because your father believes in you. You heard him say that himself. He knows that you'll be facing something you shouldn't be facing. But he believes that no matter what you face over in Russia, that you will emerge victorious. And that goes for you two as well," she said looking at both Asuka and Zack. "And he believes that you three and Ivana together have the best chance of defeating Vladimir and saving countless people from the perils of this war." She then gave them a smile, "And if the Commander believes in you, then I can believe in you guys too."

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Misato's Flat (Love the sound of that)

After the talk with Ritsuko, everyone went back to Misato's place to pack their bags. With Shinji, Asuka, Zack, and Ivana being deployed to Europe, Rei was to be sent to live with Elly until Misato and crew returned. We now go to Shinji and Asuka's room where Asuka was packing hers and Shinji's suitcases.

"Let's see," she said looking at Shinji's clothes. "This is good," selecting one clothing item, folding it and placing it in Shinji's suitcase, "And this is crap," she said about another item which she tossed on the floor.

Shinji just stood there and watched as Asuka went "crap, crap, crap, good, crap, crap, good."

He had to say something, "Err Asuka. What exactly is the point of all this?"

"What do you think? We're going to Germany! And if I'm bringing you along, I want you to at least look half decent. I don't need everyone staring at us because you're a fashion disaster!" she replied.

"We're going over there to fight a war, not see sights. I don't see the point of trying to meet foreign fashion standards."

"It's just… ugh! Why bother?" she sighed and then sat down on the floor.

"Something wrong?" Shinji asked sitting down beside her.

"No. Nothing's wrong," she muttered pulling her knees up and burying her face in them.

"Well something isn't exactly right. I may not be as smart and as intelligent as you Asuka, but an idiot like me can tell something is wrong," said Shinji putting an arm around her. "It's about going to war isn't it?" He saw her nod then he continued, "If you're worried about the war, don't bottle it up."

"What would you know about that?" she snapped at him. "You were the one who didn't want to go. And worse of all you bitched about not wanting to go!"

"Shinji bowed his head down, "I hate fighting Asuka. I don't ever want to have to kill another person. I'll always object to fighting. But…"

"But what?"

"But I know that killing is justified ONLY when it is for a greater good. A part of me will not like it, but it will understand that we are doing what must be done. We're fighting to protect, not to destroy Asuka. We're fighting because we have something to fight for. We're fighting for Misato, Father, our mothers' wishes, for Germany, and for countless millions of people all who will be affected by this war. And as much as I hate war, I know when it has to be waged. I'll always object to it, but when I am called upon, I will answer."

"Wow, you've grown up," said Asuka who smiled at him. "You're getting closer and closer to being a man everyday. I remember when I first saw you. You were this shy, borderline cowardly child. And look at you now. Now maybe if you worked out a little bit, you'd look even more so. Now at least I know there's a shoulder I can lean on during this war without worry of it collapsing on me."

"Asuka…"

"Shinji, sei still und küß mich," she commanded in German.

"Asuka? I'm not following here."

With a shrug of frustration, she tackled him from her sitting position until she was lying on top of him. Her lips quickly united with his. After a few seconds of fiery kissing, she broke it off. "Joyous. I'm gonna have to teach you some German, so you don't feel completely lost over there."

"Sounds great."

"What's so great?" asked a voice that wandered around outside. The voice belonged to Zack and he was getting closer to their room. "I'm not so sure what's so great about…" he then sees them in their room in their… compromising position… "oh my god shut the door!" He turns around till his back is to them. "Oh boy, wait till Misato hears about this."

"Versuchs, und du singst im Soprano," she warned him.

"Whatever that means," he replied. He then darted off yelling "MISATO! MISATO!"

Asuka got up off Shinji. "Stay put, I'll be right back," she said taking off after Zack.

Shinji could hear several footsteps being made. Next he heard something that sounded like a struggle, and then he heard a sharp crack followed by what sounded like a boy screaming in a rather high pitched voice. This scream was followed by a thud, then silence. Shinji could then hear some light footsteps being created that were returning back towards him. Peering through the doorway came Asuka who appeared as happy as a sunflower on a sunny day. "That'll teach him," she said with a smirk.

"You didn't…"

"Yup. He sung some soprano alright," declared Asuka. "I think he's got a thing for it too." She embraced Shinji again, "Now where were we?" she wondered as she kissed him again.

They might have carried on forever, if Misato's voice didn't ring out through the apartment, "Come on you two! You can kiss on the plane!"

Asuka broke off the kiss with great frustration. "Sexually starved bitch…" she muttered. After rush packing Shinji's suitcase, they were finally ready. "You ready Shinji?" she asked.

"I am," he replied.

"Good. Whatever is out there, we'll face it together."

"Together."

"Good. Now let's go kick that Vladimir guy's ass!" she shouted as she took his hand. And the two walked out together.

A/N: Finally! I never thought I'd get to the end of this one. I had a really hard time doing the last bit of this chapter (From Ritsuko's talk down). It might show unfortunately. If to you guys it really looks as bad as I think it does, I may go back and fix it.

A/O/N: Now I'm in university. I never got my transfer, so I went back into my original program. Hopefully it'll go okay. Because of university, my work will likely slow down. But I won't stop thinking about it though. Rest assured of that.

A/O/O/N: Well, the problem has been fixed. Thanks to Marine Brother Shran. He told me I should go back and retake Psychology immediately.

Here's a little extra for you all.

Epilogue

The Section 2 agents made their last check of the building before heading out. It was standard procedure as usual.

"I don't get paid enough for this," a stocky one said.

"That's rather obvious," a tall thin one said.

"You can worry about money later," put in a young female member of the crew. "Get over here!"

The other two ran over to where their colleague was. The object of her attention apparently was a boy on the floor in the fetal position. What was obvious was that the boy was clutching his groin area in immense pain. "It's Pilot Harper," said the woman. "I think the Second Child sacked him again."

"Not again," the stocky one sighed. He pulled out a walkie talkie. "Daichi. We got a Code Green up here on Major Katsuragi's floor. Bring the ice." Putting the device back in its holster, he sighed again, "That girl needs some serious anger management."

"You want to tell her that?" asked the tall one. "We'll be getting a Code Green for you then too."

"Why don't you two shut up and help me here," the woman interjected as she was checking Zack for any other injuries.

"We really don't get paid enough for this."

Until 67, be cool!

German Translations

Shinji, sei still und küß mich. Shinji, shut up and kiss me.

Versuchs, und du singst im Soprano. Try it, and you will sing soprano


	67. Project V Part 4: Impending Threat

A/N: And here we are again. 66 chapters, with no ending in sight! Wow wee! So now let's focus on the task at hand. Shinji, Asuka, Zack, and Ivana have been handpicked by Gendo Ikari to take part in the war that is breaking out in Europe. Are they up for the task? Will they be able to defeat the Russian Reaper known as Vladimir?

Jumbo Jet – en route for Berlin, Germany

"Ah, I knew getting Misato to buy Casanova some sort of music player would keep him quiet," smirked Asuka as she settled into her seat on the plane. "If he's quiet, everyone's quiet."

"You're not quiet," retorted Misato as she tried to get some rest, but couldn't because of Asuka's ranting.

"Yes, so keep your voice down," Ivana demanded from a seat across Asuka.

"I am not loud," Asuka shot back. She motioned to a sleeping Shinji sitting next to her. "Look at Shinji; he's out like a light. Obviously he doesn't find me loud."

"I got an idea," said Misato. She motioned to a flight attendant. "Oh could you get us some tequilas? We could all use something to relax."

However, Ivana noticed that Misato's face twitched for a moment as she was talking to the attendant. The Russian girl then noticed that Misato was looking her in the eye, and giving her a look that said "Play along".

"Oh boy, it's been a while since I had tequila," replied a cheery Asuka. "Thanks Misato."

"No problem. You guys and girls deserve it."

Zack meanwhile was listening to the music on the player Misato got for him. However, he wasn't playing relaxing music like Misato suggested. More rather, he chose some rather violent sounding music such as Kill Me Some Motherfuckers, a song he figured would get him in the mood for what was impending. He was getting deep into the song that he was caught quite by surprise when the flight attendant was offering him a glass of some sort of drink. He accepted the glass, thanked the attendant and went back to his music.

"Ah, this'll be quite the treat," said Misato accepting her glass. "Too bad Shinji isn't awake or he'd want one too."

"Well he'd be hammered after one," said Asuka as she sipped her drink.

"I concur," Misato replied after she sipped hers. "We couldn't afford you two drunk, and then rocking the plane together."

Misato was teasing again, and Asuka didn't like it. "Hey! I would cringe to see what you and Kaji would do in the bathroom together. And I know it wouldn't be turbulence," she finished with a sigh. Asuka took another sip of her drink.

"You two are just as bad as Casanova," Ivana interjected after she put her glass down. "If it's not him getting in Elly's pants, it's you two getting in Shinji's or Kaji's pants."

"What about you?" Asuka asked Ivana. She yawned then continued after another sip of her drink, "Isn't there a boy you like out there? Even if you don't want to get in his pants, isn't there one you like?"

"No there is not a boy I am interested in," Ivana swiftly replied. However, she also noticed that Asuka out of nowhere was growing rather tired quickly. Was Misato up to something?

"Come on," Asuka went on with another yawn. "It's not a bad thing to say there is someone you like. Look at me and Shinji." She laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around the sleeping boy as best she could. "I've never been happier."

"You said that after you stomped Toji's groin at school last year," grunted Misato who was trying to conceal a growing grin on her face.

"What are you talking about…" sighed Asuka as her eyes closed and she apparently slipped into unconsciousness.

Now Ivana turned to Misato. She knew whatever had happened to Asuka was Misato's doing. "What did you do Misato?"

"Nothing a few sleeping pills couldn't deal with," chuckled her guardian. "She'll be out for a while. Now let's just relax and hope Casanova doesn't get loud, so we don't have to knock him out cold." She looked at the sleeping couple. "Don't they look cute like that?"

Denmark

"This country sucks!" roared Vladimir Topolov as he looked at a map with some of his generals. "Why do all these countries have shit for land? Why wasn't I informed of this?"

The Russian forces were obviously hell bent on reaching Germany to occupy the NERV bases there. Vladimir wasn't too sure what his master wanted out of this, but nonetheless, he would obey. Topolov knew the military forces he had were not that well organized, and rather less than effective. But with Unit 10 on his side, his odds of success were better, as his EVA was enhanced by the S2 engine provided by SEELE before 3rd Impact. Sure he could get to Germany, but he had to make sure his forces got there too.

His master was coordinating an assault through a few other countries to attack Germany from the East, while Vladimir was to coordinate the attack from the North. The battle on the northern front was supposed to be easier as, it would be easy to use the EVA to threaten Sweden, Norway, and Denmark that they would be bowled over if they resisted. So they were granted passage on the condition that they not be attacked. As of right now, they were in Scandinavia, Denmark. Unfortunately, Scandinavia was mostly covered in a huge, dirty swamp. This shithole was probably one of the worst swamps not known to man, especially in the month of November. This swamp seemed like it was alive on account of the fact that it was almost impossible to pass through. Even Vladimir in Unit 10 had trouble getting his EVA through the swamps of Scandinavia. Now Vladimir was with his generals trying to come up with a way through or out of this swamp.

"I'm sorry sir," one of his generals replied. "We had no idea the swamps would be this bad."

"What do you have for military experts? High school kids? Sci-fi freaks?" growled Vladimir, as his whole six-foot frame towered over the shorter man. "How are we supposed to occupy Germany if we're stuck in this swamp? And don't even mention ICBMs!"

"My lord," a female general spoke up. "I may have a solution."

"You'd better."

"We can always try pulling back, and enter from the northeast instead of from the north," the woman suggested.

Vladimir eyed the map carefully. Pulling back from Denmark was feasible, as they could call in the Russian fleet to enter Germany from the water. However, entering from the northeast would mean that the invasion would definitely slow down by ludicrous proportions. Long enough for NATO to have its forces mobilized and able to thump the fledgling army that was stuck in a swamp of all things.

"This won't work you morons," said Vladimir. "By the time we get out of this swamp, we'd have to call in the rust buckets you call our fleet. And NATO gets to use us as target practice while we wait. If we're going to advance, it has to be through Denmark."

"But sir…"

"SHUT UP!" the boy roared as he was quickly losing his temper. He abruptly then said, "I'm going for a walk." He then stormed off, walking away from the temporary military installation.

As Vladimir walked through whatever areas could be walked through an area of the swamp where it was possible to walk, he pondered their latest move. So far, they had managed to threaten Russia's neighbouring countries, but one could only go so far. Sometimes he wondered why he, a 15 year old boy was entrusted with the charge of this army. Was it because he piloted the most powerful weapon in Russia's arsenal? Was it because of the gift of life and power that his master provided him with? This wasn't making a lot of sense to Vladimir at all.

"Having doubts are we?" asked a familiar voice.

Vladimir turned towards where the voice was coming from. What he saw was a black oval shaped portal; it looked like a black hole. A figure stepped out the portal and stood before Vladimir. "You know, you really should have more faith in my plans." It was his master, clad with his black cloak and hood.

"Did your plans involve trudging through this shithole?" asked a frustrated Vladimir. "There's no way through. And no way out."

"This was a test for you," the hooded man replied. "This will be the reality of your situation should your faith in me be lacking. You will be trapped, with no way out of your predicament when you face off against the best of the EVA pilots."

"I know that much, but we're still stuck in this swamp," the Russian boy argued. "Unless a way out comes quickly, this whole plan will be up in smoke. Do you have a plan?"

"Indeed I do. Just believe, and miracles occur. At sunrise, look to the east, and prepare to be amazed." And with that, the man walked off, towards the black hole from which he had emerged from.

"Well. Let's see. He has gotten us this far," Vladimir said aloud. "Let's see if he's the real deal and pull through."

NERV HQ – Doc Akagi's Office

Dr. Akagi was patiently waiting for her coffee, courtesy of Elly Simpson. That girl had actually been rather convenient to have around. Not only could Elly cook with a talent that was almost on par with Shinji, but she could also make a coffee that one could actually look forward to having. So while she waited, it was time to check the news on the unfolding events.

And of course, the topic on everyone's mind was Russia and its new leaders showing unprecedented aggression. There were unconfirmed reports that a wave of military vehicles and soldiers was on the move advancing towards Germany from the north and the east. Ritsuko assumed that this enemy was trying to create a two pronged attack, probably to capture the Hamburg NERV base, then for a final advance on Berlin. But it didn't make any sense, as Russia wouldn't have much left, even if it did occupy Germany. And as expected, many other countries now declared war on Russia. These countries included: The United States (Fuck yeah!), The United Kingdom (Russia will be crumpets when the Brits are through with them!), France (I get this feeling they'll be the first to surrender), Germany itself (Germany's coming of age), Japan (Don't mess with Gendo.), Canada (Sweetness baby!), Australia (Crikey! The Australians are coming), the Czech Republic (Uh, yeah), and Austria (…no comment). How in the world was Russia going to try and plow through 9 different countries and come out on top? This didn't make any sense. Ritsuko would have to wager a guess on that Russia was completely relying on EVA Unit 10 to do the job. But if Russia's intelligence knew any better, Japan would come to Germany's aid because NERV bases are threatened, and that Japan would send EVAs to stop Unit 10. So it still didn't make any sense.

"Dr. Akagi?" called out a voice with a far too familiar accent.

The good doctor turned away from the computer to see Elly, clad in her favourite yet questionable choice of pink clothes as usual holding two mugs of coffee. Obviously one for her and one for Elly, as Maya and the others had long gone home. So obviously, Elly wanted to talk.

"Was there something you wanted to talk about?" Ritsuko asked as she took her coffee from Elly.

"Umm…yeah, I just got a few concerns mate," answered Elly as she took a seat. "It's about Zack. Do you think he'll be okay over there in Nazi-land?"

"Well, I can't tell you for sure if we will be okay Elly," replied Dr. Akagi. "Against most conventional warfare, the EVAs are quite well protected. You know they have many layers of armour and the AT Field which can effectively block all but the most powerful weapons. So as long as he doesn't do something stupid, he for the most part should be okay."

"But what about that Vladimir guy? I hear he's mean, nasty, and a communist," Elly countered.

Ritsuko sighed. "Elly, the Russian army isn't as powerful as people are led to think. We see all these images of the former Soviet Union and think that's what Russia looks like now. But really, Russia's army has deteriorated immensely. I don't know what they'll gain out of this invasion, but I can believe that it won't work. Zack's only threat really, is Vladimir. And Zack isn't fighting alone. He has Shinji, Asuka, and Ivana. And before you say Asuka and Ivana will screw him over, they both know to keep the personal conflicts off the battlefield. Course they may sack him several times after the battle, but other than that, I believe he will be okay."

"Thank you," said Elly as she gleefully sipped her triple cream- triple sugar coffee. "I can't wait for him to come home."

"I'm not sure if we could all agree with you Elly." Now the doctor switched to another topic, "So what did you really want to ask me?"

Elly seemed caught by surprise for a moment. She initially decided to dismiss her next thought, but apparently Ritsuko had seen right through it. 'Ah well, may as well bring it to the light.' "Uh, I wanted to give Zack a gift for when he came back, but I need your help to do it."

"What is it Elly?"

"Can I get plastic surgery?" she suddenly asked.

"No," was the doctor's almost immediate reply.

"Aww, why not?" Elly wondered.

"Because not only are those silicone gel implants unreliable and potentially dangerous, but we don't want to have to conduct tests to see how EVAs react with foreign objects in your body, plus you don't want the risk of them breaking in battle. And if they broke, the gel would leak into your body, with a high threat to your health."

"Bummer," muttered Elly. "Can't I ask some other doctor then?"

"No because the procedure is illegal in Japan," said Ritsuko. "Just you wait till you grow older, your body will mature more and your breasts will mature with your body. Besides, you look fine just as you are now. And I know Zack thinks the same way except more so." What a day. First Ritsuko had to tell Shinji, Asuka, and Zack how to handle a war. Now she was telling Elly how to feel more secure about herself.

"Look Elly, I can sense you're feeling a little insecure about yourself, but you don't need to worry about outer beauty to get Zack to love you. I'm sure he likes your personality, that smile and optimism you always give off, and oh yes your amazing cooking."

"That must have been why I slept with him. To prove I loved him," sighed Elly. "Sometimes I wish I would have waited."

"Well that is a decision you are going to have to live with. You acted prematurely, and that will live with you for as long as you'll remember."

"What do you suggest I do when Zack comes back?" Elly asked.

"Just be yourself," answered Ritsuko. "Love each other, not lust for each other. Well a little lust doesn't hurt, but a lot potentially can hurt you."

Ritsuko noticed Elly had her head bowed down and wasn't talking. "Elly?"

"Yes?"

"Do you regret sleeping with Zack too soon?" the doctor inquired.

"Not really!" Elly suddenly replied, lifting her head to show a big smile on her face. "It was gonna happen one way or the other, so there's no sense in crying over spilled milk!"

Ritsuko shook her head in disbelief.

Airplane – 2 hours later – Hijackers will be Asukanated

Over the last little while, not much had changed. The only changes were that Shinji was now awake and Zack had finally fallen asleep. So now Shinji, Ivana, and Misato were interacting.

"I don't think drugging Asuka was necessary Misato," Shinji commented.

"Hey, she was making a lot of noise," replied Misato. "And the pills were meant to only put her out for a few hours, and hopefully she'll be in a much better mood when she wakes up. By the way Shinji, don't you think she looks cute when she's sleeping?"

"What?" Shinji was shocked at the question. "What are you talking about?"

'Oh joy,' thought Ivana. 'Misato's at it again.'

"Come on Shinji. Don't deny it. There's no shame in admitting it. She is sleeping after all," Misato's teasing tirade continued. "I wonder what you do to her while she's sleeping."

"Misato!"

"Come on. She's right there, you being a boy just wanna put your hands all over her, squeeze that tush of hers, play with her breasts, come on, I bet you do all that and more."

"MISATO!"

"Okay that's enough," commanded Ivana who was getting sick of this herself. "What do you do to yourself when you don't have Kaji around?" she now directed at Misato.

"Hey that is none of your business young lady," Misato shot back at Ivana.

"And whatever kinky games Shinji and Asuka play are none of your business Misato," the Russian calmly replied back.

"Anyways," began a relived Shinji who was quick to change the subject, "where exactly are we landing once we get to Germany Misato?"

"Hmm, there's an airport in Germany, they finished it about 5 years ago. Damn what was it called again?"

"Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport," answered Ivana.

"Thank you," said Misato. "Anyways, that's where we'll meet the Commander of NERV there. From there, we'll be discussing how and when you four will be deployed to defend the NERV bases."

"But there are two bases," said Ivana. "One in Berlin and one in Hamburg. So would they place two of us at each base?"

"Not likely from what I hear," answered Misato. "For you guys, your primary task is to deal with your ex."

Ivana now had a frown on her face from having to deal with her ex-boyfriend. "I wish it was as easy as you made it sound. It feels like I'm going to be living that day all over again."

"I heard about it in your report Ivana," Misato said to her sympathetically. "It was definitely the hardest decision you could make, but you without a doubt made the right decision, the only decision."

"Don't you ever wonder what the impact of your decision will be even if you make the right decision?" Ivana wondered aloud. "I feel like I tore a piece of my soul away when I struck him down."

"Then it must have been a bad piece of yourself you tore away," Shinji interjected.

"Really?" asked a confused Ivana.

"Well if his grasp on your soul was that bad, then I guess that it was good that the piece of him is gone." Shinji bowed his head down, "Well that's what I think anyways."

Ivana took a deep breath. "You tried. I just hope you and Asuka won't be put in a position where you're turned against each other."

Suddenly to everyone's surprise, especially Shinji's, Asuka began stirring. Her arms were still somewhat wrapped around her boyfriend somewhat. If Shinji knew any better, she was mumbling in her sleep.

"Asuka?" Shinji whispered to her, perhaps hoping to rouse the girl into waking up.

"Ich bin so heiß..." Asuka mumbled in German. Ivana had an eyebrow raised while Misato was slightly confused. Asuka was now subconsciously cuddling Shinji tighter, to his dismay.

"Asuka? " Shinji asked again. Not understanding what was going on was not doing wonders for our hero.

"Ich will...dich...jetzt... " she said next, subconsciously kissing Shinji. Shinji was a little frightened. Ivana was now becoming a little disgusted, and Misato was a little shocked.

"Ivana, is she saying what I think she's saying?" Misato asked.

"Yes and it's disgusting," answered Ivana. "She's got such a dirty mind. She's probably no better than Elly."

"I see," said Misato in her teasing tone. "Having fun Shinji? She wants you. She wants you badly."

"Shinji...du bist ein echter...Mann...ohhhhh..." Asuka sighed as she was now on sitting on his lap, facing him while she was still asleep.

Shinji was speechless for words. Not only was Asuka apparently talking dirty in her sleep in German, but apparently, she was dreaming about going the distance… all the way to the end zone. The pressure being put on his pants wasn't helping either. He was thinking one way upstairs, the other downstairs.

"Mhhhh...ja...genau da..." said Asuka in response to Shinji's biological response to her 'subconscious advances'.

"Uh… Asuka?" asked Shinji to sleep-talking girl.

"Shinji…" sighed Asuka. Shinji noticed her eyes beginning to flutter. Her eyes continued to flutter before she fully awoke into the conscious world. "Shinji?" she asked aloud. "Where are… oh my god!" she gasped as she saw the faces of Misato, who was on the verge of breaking out laughing, and Ivana who seemed downright disgusted.

If anyone were to look at the two pilots right now, there were in quite a compromising position. Asuka was sitting on Shinji's lap as if she wanted to do the very bad thing with him. If they didn't have clothes on… you do the math.

"You know, there's the bathroom for that sort of thing," said Misato who was trying hard not to chuckle, "not that we mind or anything."

"YOU DIRTY BITCH!"

Horaki Residence – Hikari is also a great cook. Just ask Toji.

"Well, you'll be staying in here Rei. This is my room. We can bunk together until Misato and the others come back." Hikari had just finished giving Rei the tour of her apartment. "You can just drop your suitcase in here."

"Thank you," said Rei who proceeded to put down her suitcase that contained a few sets of clothes and some necessities.

"No worries," replied Hikari. "I gotta get dinner ready. I'm sure Nozumi would love to play Sega against someone other than me or Kodama. So you can go ahead and unpack, freshen up, and… play Sega while I'm busy." She walked off towards the kitchen, and with a smile she said, "Don't be shy."

"Thank you," was the best response Rei could come up with. "If it is alright, I would like to take a shower."

Hikari turned her head back and responded with "Go right ahead. Dinner will likely be ready by the time you get back. There's towels in the bathroom, and everything else you'll need."

"Thank you," Rei said again as she proceeded to the bathroom. Once she locked the door, she disrobed and took a moment to look at her altered self in the mirror. She ran a hand through her brown hair a few times. She looked fine overall, with her normal coloured skin, her brown eyes, and the brown hair (with streaks of azure).

But something didn't feel right. And Rei couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was that was giving her this uneasy feeling. And try as she could to dismiss that thought, it was a thought that would not be ignored. Rei then proceeded over to the shower tub to turn the faucet on. Once the water warmed up, Rei stepped into the tub to let the hot water soak her body.

As she washed her body, Rei realized that these thoughts she was having were those of concern. Concern for those who had left for Germany, and for war. Rei knew that there was a chance that Shinji and the others could be seriously wounded and/or killed during the fighting. This reminded her of the time she had spent with Commander Ikari during the beginning of the Angel War and her thoughts about Shinji during the end of the Angel War.

Once she had gotten used to the heat of the water, Rei picked up the shampoo bottle, squeezed a small amount into her hand, and applied it to her hair. To have concern for the safety for another, it brought a sense of worry and also a sense of attachment. She was worried for her fellow pilots.

In her mind, she sees an image of Shinji, with smiling at her.

Once Rei was comfortable with the amount of shampoo scrubbing she had done to her brown/blue hair, it was time for the conditioner to apply its… conditioning. As the First Child let the conditioner do its work, she pondered the memo she received from Dr. Akagi earlier that day. Apparently, the commander didn't want the remaining four pilots to be doing nothing while the others were off fighting the conflict. So they were going to use the new and improved virtual combat system that NERV technicians had been working on since Misato literally hammered out the prototype model.

And finally, she was done. Rei turned the faucet off and stepped out of the bathtub. She picked a towel off the wall and proceeded to dry herself off. As she was drying herself, she heard a knock at the door.

"Rei, it's Hikari. Just wanted to let you know that dinner's almost ready."

"Understood," Rei replied in her calm voice. Rei wrapped the towel around her body so it covered enough of her lower half of her body and almost her entire upper half.

About 10 minutes later, Rei was kneeling at the dinner table with Hikari and Kodama. Hikari had decided to cook up a curry dish, with some lamb and rice.

"Go ahead, eat up," said Hikari, who actually had quite a big bowl in front of her. "We love this stuff."

"I do not eat meat," replied Rei after looking at her dish for a few moments.

Kodama was quite surprised. "Aww too bad. Hikari's dishes are the best there is."

"That's alright," Hikari responded. She handed Rei the salad bowl. "Then help yourself to the salad then. If you don't mind, can I split your rice dish between myself and Kodama?"

"I do not mind."

"Yay!" cheered Kodama.

Airplane – Over Berlin, Germany

"All right," said Misato as she peeked out the window. "I can see the airport."

Staring out the window, Asuka was mystified by the sight. "Wow. I can't believe it. I'm home. I'm finally home. Look Shinji look!" she grabbed Shinji by the collar of his shirt and got him to look out the window. "This is the land where your pretty girlfriend grew up."

"So this is the heart of evil, the lions den, Satan's playground, the belly of the beast, the darkest pit of hell," Zack said in a monotonous, yet serious tone. "I never thought I would be walking on such accursed grounds. Once this task is over, I'll find a priest so he can purify…"

CRACK!

"That's better Asuka," Misato said. She looked down at the fallen Canadian who had been hit for the second time that day where the sun doesn't dare to shine. "You listen Casanova, you had better be on your best behaviour here and keep those comments to yourself, or the German authorities won't hesitate to deport you back to your little igloo in Canada."

Zack, who was now miraculously back on his feet and in fine form one might acknowledge. "I figured that was obvious Misato. Though I'm not sure about the deportation part. I might just get sent to Auschwitz and get laced with cyanide gas."

CRACK! I swear. Zack is just asking for it.

Hopefully the third time would be the charm. Within a few minutes, the plane finally touched down at Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport. At last, their journey was complete. As the group prepared to depart the plane, they noticed some soldiers standing outside the plane. Once they were finally off the plane, a person whom one would guess was a military officer came up to them. He was a man not much taller than Zack, clad in a grey military uniform, stripes and all.

"Welcome back to Germany Miss Sohryu," the man said in Japanese. "And to your companions, we also would like to welcome you to our humble country."

"Good to see you again too Commander Henkel," replied Asuka back in Japanese.

"Yes. But let's go indoors, where we can discuss the situation better," the commander insisted.

Board Room – Inside the Airport

"So now that we're all more comfortable, we can discuss the matters better," the commander began. "First off, allow me to introduce myself as Commander Joachim Henkel of NERV Berlin, and of NERV Hamburg."

"Ivana Kharlamov, Fifth Child," Ivana said as she shook the commander's hand.

"Ah, you're Ivana," Joachim replied. "I'm sorry about the underlying circumstances of this war." He then turned to Zack. "And you are likely Canadian, judging by your sports jacket."

"The one and only Zack Harper," Zack replied loud and proudly. Zack was wearing a Toronto Maple Leaf jacket. "Sixth Child and ready to kick some ass!"

"I see," commented Joachim who shook Zack's hand. "Glad you brought your enthusiasm with you." He then looked to Shinji and shook his hand. "And Shinji Ikari, it is an honour to finally see you in person."

"Uh, thank you," Shinji sheepishly said back.

Misato then jumped in. "And perhaps I should mention that Shinji and Asuka are now going out Commander. So that means you pay up."

"W-what? Really?" Joachim was shocked. "Shinji's her boyfriend?"

Asuka was confused. "What are you talking about?"

Misato ignored her. "Yup. And now you owe me 5,000 Euros."

"Uhh yeah." Joachim quickly changed the subject. "Anyways, back to business. The Russian army is advancing towards Berlin on two fronts. One from the north and one from the east. And despite the reports about the low quality military power Russia packs, they are still advancing. It's worse than our experts predicted."

"Is it that bad?" asked Ivana.

"It may be," answered Henkel. "I've heard some strange reports over the last little while. I can't confirm them yet though. But apparently, an attack on NERV Hamburg is imminent. I predict they will officially invade Germany within 72 hours."

"So what's the plan?" Misato inquired.

"Well the best news is that we know where Topolov is," answered Joachim. "He's with the army on the northern front. Since we believe he is the backbone of the Russian army, we will send all four of you to Hamburg to intercept him there, as he will likely attack NERV Hamburg."

"What about the Berlin base?" Asuka wondered.

Misato answered that question. "That will be NATO's job. We want to minimize casualties by letting NATO deal with other conventional forces. So you guys get Vladimir, while we'll do the rest. Sounds like a plan eh?" she finished with a smile.

"Yeah, a plan to let the UN stay lazy, by fighting a toothless tiger," commented Zack, while you leave us with the beast."

A/N: The UN is still rather useless.

"Unfortunately, that is how it stands," said Joachim. "But we do have the power to pull this off and stop the Russians in your tracks. But we'll need all of you to be at your best. Are you all ready?"

"Yes sir!" the four pilots said in unison.

'It's time to settle this,' said Ivana to herself.

'Time to kick some commie ass!' thought Zack.

'I'm back and I'll be a hero!' thought Asuka.

'To save the world once more,' pondered Shinji.

A/N: I. AM. SO. SORRY. FOR. TAKING. THIS. LONG. TO. UPDATE. I've been well up over my ass with work and that stupid piece of shit they call university. Ah, rather up over my eyebrows in work. But nonetheless, I have never stopped thinking about this ever since I last updated. I've whittled my way slowly but surely until I got here. The bad news is that my updating will have no consistency until after mid-December. So if you can all bear with me, we'll all be cool.

A/O/N: And so the war has nearly begun. What is Vladimir's X-factor that will give him a chance to bring his armada to German soil? Will Shinji and friends stand a chance against Vladimir?

Until 68, be cool!


	68. Project V Part 5: Descent into Darkness

A/N: Okay, so the site's email alert system appears to be on the DL as in Disabled List. But I'm still fired up! My last post has revived my inspiration! So here we go! The time is nearing, where Shinji and friends must face the Reaper, better known as Vladimir Topolov. Are they really ready?

A/O/N: Here's a special treat for you readers. A belated Christmas gift. An extra **LONG** chapter filled with tons of action! Enjoy! You may need to take an intermission or two because this is by far the longest chapter!

A/O/O/N: My updating will still remain inconsistent because of work, company coming down, and soon returning to school. So I hope this chapter more than makes up for my lack of consistency.

Disclaimer: Zack's opinions of Germany do not reflect my views, or those of the general population.

NERV Hamburg – 4378km (2720 miles) east of Canada

With the exception of the wordings in the facility being German instead of Japanese, to Shinji this base looked almost the exact same as the one back home. Not that it was a serious problem, as Asuka was more than willing to translate every single word and phrase that they had come across, or if one had a question for a certain phrase. As of the current moment, they were on their way to their barracks that a woman who was likely in her late thirties, who was member of the senior NERV staff was leading them to.

As Shinji looked around, he noticed Asuka was gone. "Say, has anyone seen Asuka anywhere?"

"Oh don't worry about it Shinji," Misato replied. "She's probably just taking a look around. She hasn't been here in a long time, so I figure she wants to see this place again."

"Hmm," wondered Ivana as they continued to walk. "She said something about asking where we do broadcasts over the entire base. So maybe she wanted to do something there."

"What would Asuka want with the broadcast system anyway?" Zack asked. "She doesn't need to inflate her ego any more than it already is."

"I wouldn't irritate her here if I were you," Ivana commented.

"Why not?" Zack shot back.

"We're in Germany, and she has the home advantage here," Ivana answered. "She also has control over the native tongue, which you do not, and she knows this country like the back of her hand, which I believe you also do not."

"Whatever…" sighed Zack as they kept pacing along.

"Hey guys!" Everyone turned around to see Asuka running towards the group. "I just had to take care of some business."

"What kind of business Asuka?" asked Misato. "An old flame?"

"You wish," retorted Asuka. "Just listen, you'll get it in a second."

"Listen to what?" Shinji wondered.

Suddenly, the base's loudspeaker system turned on. There was some static for a moment, but the message was loud and clear. "Achtung, achtung, an alle Mannschaften von NERV. Hier ist der Kommandant. Seien sie wachsam, wenn sie einen Jugendlichen mit einer blauen Sportjacke sehen. Er sucht ständig nach Ärger und wird höchstwahrscheinlich versuchen, etwas extrem dummes zu tun. Vielen Dank. Weitermachen."

Ivana and Misato could barely keep themselves from laughing, while the woman who was escorting them looked at Zack with contempt. Zack obviously didn't understand the sudden glare he was. "Whoa, what's with the look? "

Asuka then commented, "I guess I should translate the message for you Casanova." She cleared her throat and then said, "Attention, attention. To all personell of NERV. This is the commander. Be alert when you see a teenager wearing a blue sports jacket. He is always gunning for trouble, and will most likely try to do something very stupid. Thank you. Continue duty. "

It took the Canadian about two seconds to realize what Asuka had just done. He was the only one out of the group wearing a blue sports jacket (Clad with Toronto Maple Leafs logo on back). "_This place blows…_"

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NERV HQ – Japan **6873 km (4271 miles) west of Canada**

Today was supposed to be another quiet day at NERV base for Elly Simpson. Apparently, there was a head lice problem at the school, so it would be closed for the next two days so the place could be thoroughly sterilized. And so, her plan for the day was originally going to go like it would should the day have been a weekend. Elly started her day like she always did. Waking up to the alarm clock like she always did, a good smack to the clock shut it off. Reaching out in the darkness, she found her way to her bedside lamp and turned it on; allowing some light to illuminate what would have been a darkened room.

We then see our pink-haired pilot stretch her arms out with a big yawn. Next she sits up in bed and stretches again.

"_Good morning NERV_," she says to no one in particular. "_It's time for another day in this boring place_." Sliding her legs out to the side of the bed, she lets them touch the floor. Since today wasn't a school day, she was in no rush with her morning routine. So she slowly got herself to her feet, wearing a pink pajama shirt and pants. Lazily slipping out of her pink pajamas and leaving them on the floor Elly did as she walked into her bathroom. While she waited for the water in the shower to heat up, she looked at herself in the mirror. Eyeing her strawberry blonde hair made her remember why she was here, as prior to joining NERV and piloting Unit 06 she was a natural blonde. But then that incident several months ago that led to all this. But now as she looks back, she didn't mind that things turned out as they did… well minus that perverted soldier that threatened her well being that unintentionally set the wheels of her destiny in motion. Not long after that boon dazzle most called 3rd Impact and that some weird old men called Instrumentality, Elly had found her way to Japan, where she met a rival in terms of self beauty in Asuka, and a boyfriend in the Canadian pilot Zack.

Ten minutes later, she found herself out of the shower, clad only with a pink towel. Elly decided to tune into the news to find out what was going on in the world while she was getting dressed. According to the news, the UN passed a resolution which demanded that Russia cease all hostilities immediately or be faced with a NATO assault on its forces. As much as she hoped Russia would cease hostilities, she remembered how the UN lacked teeth to really do anything for that matter. Not really feeling like getting dressed, she changed into her pink bathrobe instead. Once she made her bed, put away her pajamas and placed the Zack plush doll on her bed, she put on some pink flip-flops and left her room for the cafeteria.

She passed by a few people on her way there, all taking note of what she was wearing. Some of the men laughed, since it was not typical NERV attire by a long shot, while some of the more senior staff at NERV weren't really approving of a young woman walking through the hallways of a military facility in her bathrobe. Pretty much all the women were disapproving, and one was mortified. But for a girl like Elly, she didn't really care. Only Elly's opinion mattered, be it clothes, favourite foods, or when to have sex with a boyfriend.

Once Elly got to the cafeteria, she walked right up to the counter and got the cook's attention. "Good morning."

"Good morning Elly," one of the older female cooks said. Noticing she was wearing only her bathrobe, she commented, "was someone in a rush for breakfast? It's not going anywhere."

"Nah, I'm just feeling lazy mate," Elly replied. "Got a kick out of some of the blokes' reactions on the way down here though." Eyeing the menu, her decision came quick. She decided to treat herself today. "Let's go with the 3 Meat and Egg sandwich, on toast, with orange juice please," she said handing the cook her NERV card.

Once Elly got her breakfast, she noticed that Dr. Akagi was sitting at a table. Right there and then, she decided that the doctor could use some morning company. And so Elly with tray in hands walked over to Ritsuko. "Hello," she said sitting in a chair across from Ritsuko.

"Good morning Elly," Ritsuko replied half-looking at Elly and half looking at her laptop computer. "I see you've made NERV into your bedroom."

"Well it was you guys who stuck me here," joked Elly. "And I figured I'd at least make my stay comfortable. And on top of that, I don't really expect to be doing anything major today anyways."

"On the contrary Elly, you have some serious work to do today."

"What?" gasped Elly. "But there's nothing to do here!"

"Exactly my point," Ritsuko smirked. "You, Rei, Hikari and Toji are going to do some EVA training today."

"Training? What kind of training?" the Australian asked.

"Nothing too serious. Just a little virtual reality training. Take a look at this." Ritsuko turned her computer around. "This is our new virtual reality combat simulation system."

To Elly, it looked like the harmonics chamber. "Hey ain't that where we do those harmonics tests?"

"Close but not quite. It's a chamber design that's based off the harmonics chamber but with many differences. Although constructed like a harmonics test chamber, the plugs will be completely submerged, the plugs will also flood with LCL, and the coolant will serve to actually rattle the plugs, to simulate any impact. Also, if you noticed, we're on the same level as the cages. This will allow us to link the test plugs with the dummy plugs inside the EVAs. Each plug is designed to take the brainwave patterns you're A-10 neural connectors detect, and transmit it to the EVAs. This will allow you to sync with the EVAs, which will then simulate the battles, and feed the information into your plugs." The doctor looked at Elly who had a confused look in her eyes. "To make things simple, this chamber uploads your mind into virtual reality, where the computer simulates a battlefield. It isn't real, but your mind is made to think it is real."

"Ooh Sci-Fi stuff," said Elly. "So instead of shooting targets in the Geo-Front, we're gonna shoot targets in a virtual world. I guess that would save money on ammo and targets to shoot."

"Not quite again," replied Ritsuko. "This system was designed so you can face off against the other EVA pilots in one on one combat."

"You mean… me versus the others?"

"That's right Elly."

2 and-a-half hours later

Finally all the pilots who hadn't gone to Germany had now arrived at NERV base. While all the technicians were making the last minute adjustments and final checkups to the virtual system to ensure it was ready to go. As Ritsuko finished doing the final briefing of the system, she took a few moments to eye her pilot's expressions by reading their faces.

Elly seemed to be okay judging by her face. For the most part, she had kept a neutral expression. Knowing what kind of life she once led and the life she led now, it was amazing how well and quickly she adjusted to life as an EVA pilot. Ritsuko partially contributed it to not having fully experienced the horrors the others had gone through up to this point. She had some combat experience too, with the 1st and 6th Black Angels, and helped battle the EVA Series too so she wasn't totally inexperienced. The fact that she had a laid back personality, the doctor noted, helped Elly keep a cool head when in combat, and thus could only be really beaten by someone who had more experience.

Rei on another hand was like she always was minus her now brown eyes instead of red eyes. Battle ready, and blindly obedient to her superiors. Though if the doctor knew any better, flashes of worry flew past Rei's eyes once every now and then. This simulation would also stand as Rei's test to see if she really was battle ready as she had been every battle prior. If successful, the Commander may return Rei to active status after this simulation.

Toji was as Toji always was. Very nervous about entering the EVA period. After being almost completely incapacitated during the battle of the 13th Angel, it was indeed an act of God that he had returned to active status. And his relationship with his sister and his newfound relationship with the Eighth Child Hikari was probably what strengthened his resolve to pilot the EVA. But according to the data Ritsuko had on Toji, his nerves about another 13th Angel incident were probably what had been hampering his performance. Even with Ritsuko's convincing that this system was very safe, Toji didn't seem all that convinced though.

And as expected, Hikari was indeed nervous about this simulation. Since she had joined on as the Eighth Child, she had only done a few synchronization tests and a few harmonics test. She had only two sessions in the Geo Front practicing with firearm weapons. This however would be her first combat test period. However, it would be for the better that Hikari get her first battle experience in a virtual simulation. That way, when Hikari made the mistakes that she was likely to make in this simulation, she would get the second chance she needed to improve on her shortfalls.

"So before we get started," Ritsuko began to conclude. "Are there any questions. If you have any, now would be the time to ask them."

"Uh, I have one," Hikari said raising her hand. "What happens if we die in the simulation?"

"The best answer I can give you is that for a moment, you will feel like you have died," answered Ritsuko. "But your body will then realize it is not dead and you will wake up. There may be some phantom pain after the fact from where you were 'fatally wounded' but that will pass. Also, be assured that if we believe one or both combatants can no longer fight or are on the verge of 'dying' in the simulation, we will stop the fight." She looked at the four again, "Are there any more questions?" This time no one had a question. "Good, then let's get started. The first match will be," she started looking at her clipboard, "Hikari Horaki versus Toji Suzahara."

Hikari and Toji both gasped at the same time. For Hikari, her first battle ever, was against her newfound boyfriend. Hikari knew her career as an EVA pilot wasn't going to be an easy one, but she never thought this would happen: having to fight Toji.

Ritsuko noticed this right away and went over to her, "Are you sure you're up for this?" she asked. "You knew before you joined on that you would have to expect the unexpected."

"Yeah I'm okay," replied Hikari. "Just caught by surprise."

"Hey, just imagine you're playing Sega or something," said Elly. "And Toji's the big bad boss! You'll beat him Hikari! You bossed his ass around at school! Now show him why you're the boss!"

"Hey that's not nice! I'm the boss man!" grumbled Toji. "I'll smack down anyone who thinks they can beat me!"

"Says who?" shouted back Hikari. "Let's see once and for all! And if I win, you have to take me to dinner!"

"It's on!" Toji shouted back, "And if I win, you have to cook me dinner!"

"Oh boy," chuckled Elly to Rei, "this is going to be interesting!"

"Okay, settle down," Ritsuko said as she kept herself professional. "Save that energy for the battle. You two enter the plugs, and then wait for further notice."

Toji and Hikari both agreed and entered their respective entry plugs and awaited further orders. Elly and Rei left the room and followed Ritsuko into the test room where other technicians were preparing the simulation. There was also a large screen in the room where one could presume that the battle could be shown on screen.

Ritsuko pressed a few buttons, and small visuals of Hikari and Toji appeared in different corners of the screen. "Okay, are you two ready?" Ritsuko asked. "When you're ready, we'll begin."

"I'm ready," answered Hikari.

"Same here," said Toji.

"Good. Lower the plugs," the doctor ordered. "Submerge them completely."

"Yes ma'am," replied Maya Ibuki who was second in command. "Lowering the plug of the Fourth Child now." Everyone watched as the plug inhabited by Toji was then lowered by the machine into the depths of the coolant. "Plug is now completely submerged, everything reads normal. Sync ratio reads 64."

"How do you feel Toji? Does anything feel strange?" Ritsuko inquired to make sure everything was going as it should.

"No ma'am," was the answer from Toji. "It's all cool in here."

"Lower the Eighth Child's plug then," the doctor commanded once more.

"Yes ma'am," replied Maya once more. She initiated the command into the computer. "The plug is now descending into the coolant." Once Hikari's plug had been submerged, Maya reported that it had been submerged with no problems detected. Her sync ratio scored 28.

"Are you two ready?" Ritsuko asked the two children. They both nodded. Ritsuko pressed forward. "Begin the simulation now."

From Hikari's point of view, everything suddenly flashed white and she couldn't see anything. But as quickly as she was blinded, she was able to see again. However, she apparently was no longer in Central Dogma anymore, as she was now in an area which looked like it was halfway up a very large and active volcano. Taking a look around, she realized she was in EVA Unit 08. A quick observation of the area helped her determine that she was near the peak of the volcano. Up ahead, there was a moderately wide stream of lava flowing from the peak downwards.

However, Hikari realized that Toji was likely somewhere else on this mountain. And he would be trying to kill her. Luckily in this simulation that was impossible, but Hikari was scared about experiencing something that would mimic actually being killed. She didn't know that much about fighting, other than practicing with a few weapons during target practice. Looking near her EVA's feet, she saw a few weapons that she could use to fight Toji with. There was a progressive sword, a pistol, a machine gun, a long gun that looked like a sniper rifle, and a huge weapon that looked like a long tube that was probably some sort of missile launcher.

'Which weapon to pick?' she asked herself. This would likely be a tough choice. A sword would be good for close range, but what if Toji used a gun? She'd have no chance. The giant tube-like weapon must be some sort of missile launcher. Hikari had no experience with such a weapon, especially since it had only one shot, could likely be inaccurate and probably had bad recoil. She liked the sniper rifle, but this line of thought took her back to her video games that she played with Kodama. And Kodama was a goddess with the sniper rifle. However, mastery of such a weapon required incredible practice, something Hikari lacked as she was no expert in military ops. So that was out. The machine gun was a good choice, since it could spay many bullets quickly. But the drawback was that the machine gun was tough to aim with. So with not much choice in that matter, she chose the pistol. It didn't have many shots, but it was easy to aim with.

And now the worst part, which was having to look for Toji. He could be anywhere on this mountain. Remembering some of the controls from the guide, she realized that she could use the EVA's radar to scan for other signals. To her disappointment, she couldn't lock in on Toji's signal. However, the signal was strong enough to indicate that he was in the area somewhere. Hikari figured that she could get a better view of the area from the peak of the volcano. With all the lava and such everywhere it would be perilous. And so began the fateful trek, gun held out in front of her just in case Toji showed up. A few minutes passed and no sign of him as she inched closer to the top.

Suddenly, Unit 08's motion sensors picked up something coming from above. Hikari looked up, it was some sort of light and it was coming right at her! She tried to move, but she froze and flinched for the impact.

"Hikari! Raise your AT Field!" Somehow Hikari was able to hear Ritsuko's voice.

'AT Field, AT Field,' Hikari thought to herself. That special barrier that could help her block attacks. How could she use it? She needed it! She thought how that if she could raise the barrier, she could shield herself from this attack.

She felt the plug she was in rattle a bit, but overall she felt okay. She opened her eyes, and there was a lot of smoke, as if something exploded in front of her. Did she do it? Did she use the AT Field to block the attack?

"That's it Hikari! That's the AT Field!" was Ritsuko's voice. Apparently her voice came from the com. "Now hide before he fires again!"

Hikari looked around quickly for a place to hide. She saw what looked like an indent that she would be able to move the EVA into. So Toji was somewhere up above her watching her every move. How long was he watching her for, contemplating whether he could actually fire at her or not before making that decision?

'If he has the nerve to fire at his girlfriend, the one who would occasionally excuse him from class duties, the one who brought him lunches, the one who visited him in the hospital, the one who actually wasted a good chunk of her teenage years mustering the courage to tell him how she feels, and the one who let him sleep over at her place a few nights back (on the couch mind you), then he's gonna get what's coming to him!' "Time to lay the beat down!" she said to herself out loud with confidence.

Pistol in hand, Hikari rushed out of the indent which she had sheltered herself within to challenge her boyfriend. She looked up the peak. The smoke made it a little difficult to see, but the radar was able to lock onto Toji's AT Field signal. He was up there, and she was going to get him alright. She rushed up the mountain as fast she could. To some extent she felt like she was playing some Sega game. However, her EVA's sensors detected something again from above. Hikari saw that light again, which was probably another missile. Not really thinking, she decided to keep running up the mountain as best she could. The explosion behind her shoved her EVA forward, making her crash into the ground.

"Oww, that hurt," she moaned as she brought her EVA back to her feet. Looking up, she saw a black silhouette in the clouds. It was human shaped, likely Unit 03. Hikari snapped her pistol up and began frantically unloading bullets at the silhouette. As quickly as the shadow had appeared, it had disappeared. Now she was out of bullets and Toji had now vanished. So her only weapon left was her prog knife kept in the B-type equipment on her EVA's shoulders. Taking it out, she inched up the volcano like a nervous woman wondering if she would be attacked any second, getting closer to the top. It was getting hotter too, so she would have to watch out and make sure she didn't get hit by a burst flow of lava. She was now in a narrow corridor somewhere in the volcano, so she had to stay alert. He could either be somewhere in behind her or in front of her.

She heard a sound behind her, so she whipped around. It was Toji, and he had the rocket launcher pointed right at her, from about 100 meters away. Hikari did the only thing she could think of, was raising the AT Field and closing her eyes and hoping for the best.

When Hikari opened her eyes, she noticed that she was sprawled on the ground, and that Unit 03 was down on the ground not far away. She then remembered where she was, in a virtual simulation, in a battle against Toji. She noticed he was also making his way back to his feet.

Hikari saw Toji's face come on screen. He was unsure of what to say for a few moments before sheepishly saying "Hey."

"Hi," Hikari replied. This… moment lasted for a few moments before Hikari remembered her situation. "Hey, you shot at me earlier! How could you?" she asked of him.

"Uh, this is a battle, and it's a virtual battle, so we'll be okay if one of us gets killed," replied Toji.

"And you never gave thought to the fact that this still hurts?" Hikari whined. "See how you like this!" She willed Unit 08 at the surprised Toji. He was even more surprised when Hikari connected with the left side of Unit 03's face with a right hook. She followed up with a few more punches, which all connected with a shocked Toji taking the brunt of every hit.

Unit 03 staggered back before recovering. "Oh you are so going down!" roared Toji right back, commanding Unit 03 to charge and crash into Unit 08. Unit 08 took the hit head on and both Units crashed into the ground with Unit 03 on top of Unit 08. Toji, desperate to end this fight now before something likely got out of hands, used Unit 03's hands in an attempt to crush the neck of Unit 08, therefore forcing Ritsuko to stop the match because Hikari would not be able to fight with her EVA's neck broken.

Hikari struggled to break the cast iron grip Toji had on her EVA's neck, but his grip was very strong indeed. And since she felt the pain that the EVA was feeling, it felt like he was crushing her windpipe, cutting off her ability to breathe. 'Stop! I can't breathe! Please stop!' Hikari silently begged her expression a cross of pain, despair, and desperation to try and get some air into her lungs.

'Please give up Hikari,' said Toji to himself, hoping he could kill her in the simulation quickly rather than have to deal with the fact that she might struggle till this simulation ended.

Meanwhile, on the outside back in the real world, Ritsuko saw what was going on. From the outside point of view, Toji was either trying to break Unit 08's neck or trying to strangle Hikari by crushing the neck to crush Hikari's windpipe. The doctor concluded that this match was fairly much over and that Toji was about to win.

Hikari, in one last act, looked at Toji on the com, giving him the most silent, desperate plea to stop as she was beginning to lose consciousness quickly. She took one hand off her throat and reached for his face on the screen…

Toji saw this, and was immediately stricken with guilt. This was almost like he was throttling her in real life. It was real life; she may be dead in a matter of seconds if not already unconscious. He couldn't do it, even in a simulation. He released Unit 08's neck from his grip. "Oh my god," he whispered, "what have I done?"

"Blew the match…" replied a wheezing Hikari.

"Huh?"

To everyone's shock, Unit 08 grabbed the arms of Unit 03, placed one foot on Unit 03's chest, and with a surge of strength, flipped Unit 03 flying over its head… into a nearby stream of lava with a splash.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Toji in pain as the virtual lava cooked his EVA and him in the process.

"END THE SIMULATION NOW!" shrieked a voice in the background.

Everything flashed white to Hikari again blinding her completely. But like last time, her sight returned quickly, as she found herself in the entry plug she originally had entered to start the simulation. She felt her throat, seeing if she could breathe. The panting she was doing confirmed that her breathing was fine. But her throat felt like something was indeed trying to crush it. She noticed the plug open and began to make her way out, where she noticed some doctors coming towards her and some others toward Toji who was making his way out his own plug, likely suffering from phantom burns.

"Crikey," muttered Elly. "That had to hurt… a lot."

"Dr. Akagi said that anything we feel inside the simulator would be exactly the same inside," replied Rei. "This is nothing to be surprised about."

"Well seeing a guy throttling his girlfriend, even in a simulation is surprising," Elly commented. "Anyways, are you ready for our battle Rei? We're up next."

"I am always ready," said Rei.

"Good!" Elly pumped a fist. "You had best be ready, because the Kangaroo Express is coming for ya!"

"Save that enthusiasm for the simulation," Ritsuko interjected. "You two will be up in a few minutes.

"So how are they?" Elly asked. "They going to be okay?"

"They'll be just fine. Hikari is still chewing Toji out for nearly strangling her, but I think they'll be okay." Ritsuko checked back at the computer, noticing that the plugs were ready to be used again. "All right, you two are up."

So now Elly and Rei went down to the entry plugs where Toji and Hikari were previously. Once both pilots entered their respective plugs, they were submerged in the coolant and Dr. Akagi ordered the simulation to begin. Rei would start this battle with a sync of 45 and Elly with a score of 69.

While she was waiting for the simulation to start, she pondered the best way to defeat an experienced and well seasoned pilot like Rei Ayanami. Rei likely did everything by the book and had decent experience with all EVA-made weaponry. So a direct assault with any weapon was likely out of the picture. However, Rei did have one currently standing weakness: rustiness. Because of that freaky-deaky Angel Rejection Syndrome, Rei had been out of action for a while, and that this battle was to see if she was capable of going into battle. And on second note, Elly figured that even though Rei had been conditioning herself to get back into shape, the shock of trauma to her body might hamper her ability to take a hit or two. So perhaps the way to win was to get close to Rei, and then deliver some heavy duty blows that would rattle Rei and all four previous versions of her. If all else failed, then Elly probably considered going head to head with a prog sword.

Once Elly was able to see what was in front of her, she realized she was in what appeared to be a large virtual city, and that she was in a virtual Unit 06. And about 500 meters in front of her was the blue EVA 00. At her feet, was a progressive sword, which was her weapon of choice since she had had some experience with it during her practice with Zack and some more during the battle with the 6th Black Angel. She picked up her sword and pointed it at Unit 00. "Alright, hope you're ready to face… what?"

To Elly's surprise, Rei and Unit 00 had completely vanished. "Hey, where'd she go?" the pink haired wondered. 'If I knew any better, then Rei is probably going to try to sneak up on me. That always happens to the pretty girls in the movies. But they at least have a 50/50 chance of escape. Sword out in front of her, prepared for an ambush, she paced along, hoping she could track Rei as she was likely hiding amongst the buildings, waiting to strike poor Elly when she least expected it.

Elly peeked around a few buildings and Rei was still nowhere to be seen. "Dammit, how hard can it be to find an EVA in this blasted city?" But then a thought came to Elly. "Maybe Rei can see exactly what I'm doing and is trying to psyche me out. Well I put the "e" in psyche!

One minute later and still no sign of Rei, Elly was getting flustered. "Fine you wanna keep hiding, then I'll flush you out!" She took her prog sword and aimed it at a nearby building, slicing it clean in two. As the top half of the building came crashing down, it created a large cloud of smoke, which would have made Elly cough if she was outside her EVA. After slicing down some more buildings, she had created quite the smoke cloud. "Shit, I can't see a thing in all this damned smoke!"

However, her EVA's sensors picked something up. INCOMING! On woman's intuition, Elly rolled to the side, only to see a large sword land where she was less than a second ago. It was Rei, sword in hand. She had probably been waiting for the perfect moment to ambush Elly. Elly quickly got herself to her feet and brought her blade down to cleave Rei right in half. But Rei blocked the attack and used her sword to push Elly back. Elly ran right back in for a few more cuts, but Rei successfully blocked each one. Now Rei went on the attack. The brunette (with some blue) brought her sword down on Elly on a 45 degree angle. However, instead of trying to attempt another blow, Rei tried to use her sword to force Elly's sword off to the side.

"Nice try," Elly muttered as she matched Rei's strength with her own. "You're rusty, and I'm shiny mate!" She backpedaled and went back in, alternating with high and low attacks, to keep Rei guessing what move Elly would make next.

This was much tougher than Rei had originally presumed. She was definitely out of practice. If she was going to beat Elly, she would have to get her 'groove' back to show that her experience in combat was more than Elly could handle. However, Elly was also better with the blade than Rei expected. Her movements were basic, but practically flawless. She must have had someone teach her those moves.

Elly kept going at Rei, knowing that if she forced Rei to abandon Elly's line of attack, then she would be the one controlling the battle. Elly noticed Rei's rustiness was beginning to show, as there were times where she had almost cut Unit 00, but Rei would have either dodged or parried the attack.

To everyone else outside, the battle was practically an even fight. Sure Elly was currently on the attack and Rei was a little rusty around the edges, but it was pretty much dead even. Everyone, including Toji and Hikari who had come back from being checked on by the doctors, had their eyes glued to the screen like it was the hit battle of the year.

"Wow, look at them go," said Hikari. "They're good."

"Yeah, they're almost as good as Shinji or Asuka," replied Toji.

Elly continued to force Rei to move about to dodge the incoming assaults. Finally, Rei was forced to block an attack. Now Elly took this chance to try and force Rei's blade off to the side. To Rei's shock, Elly was successful in doing so. Rei quickly tried to backpedal to evade the incoming slash, but Elly's slash was fast, as it caught Rei's left forearm.

Rei flinched as she felt the blade cut Unit 00's left arm. It still hurt just as much as it would in a real fight. Suddenly, the com came on. It was Ritsuko, who was wondering if this was too much for Rei at the moment. "Alright, stop the fight for a moment," she ordered. "Rei do you still wish to continue?"

"Yes," Rei replied. "I wish to see this to its end."

"Very well," said Ritsuko. "Continue."

"Choo-choo!" Elly roared as she charged at Rei. "Hiyahhhhhhh!" she yelled as she jumped into the air off a building for an airborne attack.

Rei rolled out off to the side just as the Kangaroo Express came crashing down. The First Child saw this as her chance to counter attack the Seventh Child. She charged in quickly, not giving Elly a chance to recover from her assault. Elly got up quickly, but Rei was already on to her, not giving the pink-haired girl a chance to keep attacking. Elly was not able to make it all the way to her feet! The only thing she could do was use her sword to protect herself from Rei's rain of strikes. So Rei was just hammering away for a while, until Elly lost her grip on her sword. Rei raised her sword to stab Elly for the deathblow when Elly did the unthinkable. Using her hands to support herself, she used 06's feet in a sweeping motion to sweep Unit 00 off its feet. Unit 00 hit the ground hard, and dropped its sword in the process.

'Now for the finishing blow,' Elly said to herself. She sat on top of Unit 00, pinning it down. Rei was still rattled by being suddenly tripped by Elly. She tried to get Unit 06 off her, but Elly had the rattled and exhausted First Child trapped. Elly then proceeded to land several blows into Unit 00's head, which in the real world would have lead to Rei having a serious concussion from the blunt force trauma.

After Elly landed several more punches, Ritsuko interjected, "Okay that's enough Elly. This one is over. The simulation is ending."

Elly ceased her assault on Rei and everything flashed white before Elly found herself back in the plug she was in originally. She then remembered the simulation, and that she won. "Yay! I won! I won! WOOT!" Then she abruptly remembered that Rei would feel phantom pain from having her brains virtually scrambled by Elly. "Oh shit, Rei!"

NERV Hamburg – Late at night

Try as Shinji could, he couldn't sleep at all in the barracks. It wasn't because of having to adjust to the time zones or anything. It was that with the sudden reports of unidentified ships way out in the Baltic Sea that put everyone on edge. Commander Henkel was certain that it was the Russians and that they were going to attempt a land/sea invasion. How they came across this sudden surge of top quality military equipment was beyond ALL comprehension. So this definitely meant there was going to be a battle soon.

Shinji found himself in the cafeteria looking at a can of orange juice. The others were all sleeping back in the barracks, so he could think all to himself, or out loud if he wanted to without disturbing anyone with his lines of thought.

"Guess you got the pre-game butterflies too huh Shinji?" Shinji turned around in the direction of the voice. It was Zack. Apparently he couldn't sleep either.

"Butterflies?"

"Oh it's a hockey saying," said Zack. "People who are nervous prior to the start of a hockey game are said to have butterflies in their stomach. And in case you're wondering, yeah I'm kind of nervous myself."

"You've fought before though haven't you?" Shinji wondered.

"Yeah, I've had my share of fights and such. Mostly when I worked in Canada, I spent my police work dealing with young offenders and such, due to my age. And believe me; it's not easy to take a life. I still remember the first person I killed on the job. It was a hostage situation that probably could have been resolved peacefully. But our usual negotiator wasn't there, and I didn't feel easy about trying to bargain with the hostage taker."

Shinji was intrigued. "So what did you do? Did you shoot him?"

Zack took a sip and answered. "Luckily, the perp didn't notice, but while I was talking to him, I was aiming for a killing shot. And when I was lined up, I took my shot. Went right through the guy's left eye. Not a pleasant sight."

"Does it still bother you at all?" Shinji really wanted to know what killing a person was like so he could have an understanding of what it was like.

"Not really, it doesn't bother me that much, but it's still in my mind, like when I dealt with the Ron and his band of bastards, it lingered a bit in my mind. Heck that asshole still wanders my mind, but I've learned to deal with it."

"How do you deal with it?"

Zack sighed, "That my good friend is something you'll have to discover on your own. But there will come a time where you have to come to grips with what you did. And when you do… let's say you won't be haunted by the echoes."

"Echoes?" Shinji was confused.

"Well, I put it this way. Everything we do leaves an echo. For example, say you killed someone. That one kill will echo within the walls of your mind. It always happens with me. But I come to grips with those echoes. The fact that you hear those echoes shows you have guilt for committing the ultimate sin. Shows you have a heart, and a soul."

This made Shinji think back to when he met Kaowru. During that time, Shinji was likely going through one of the worst times of his life. The fact that Kaowru had befriended him had made Shinji feel a lot better. But then the ultimate betrayal: Kaowru was in fact an Angel bent on initiating 3rd Impact just like his predecessors. And Shinji was forced to kill his friend. That nearly destroyed his sanity, and almost brought his world crashing down. "I felt that once. Those echoes. Kaowru… I killed him."

"Hmm, then you have some understanding then," Zack said. "Glad to know that you have a conscience," he chuckled. He saw Shinji with a frown on his face and corrected himself. "Sorry man, just trying to help."

"Thank you for trying," Shinji replied. "Makes me feel a little better."

"No problem, it's what I do," Zack declared.

"Asuka would disagree with that," Shinji chuckled. "After everything you say to her."

"She just paints herself as a huge target for teasing, and she is fun to tease."

Now Shinji had a question, "Is it really worth getting sacked though?"

Even Zack was stupefied by that question. "That I can't really answer. Well it smarts a LOT, but I can still reproduce… okay that was an odd thing to say but you get the picture."

"Yeah…" muttered Shinji.

"As for Asuka," continued Zack, "do me a favour and stay alive for her okay?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Because," replied Zack, "I don't want to have to deal with the waterworks if you end up dead." When he saw Shinji's confused look, he verified, "Look, I know she'll be okay, but if I was against Asuka on the battlefield, I'd be fucking scared of her. As for you, you're just not as vicious as Asuka is. But at the same time, she needs you."

"Why do you say that?" Shinji had one question after another.

"Man I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition, but going on." Zack took a minute to think then answered. "You two are like opposites, like a positive and a negative charge and how they're drawn to each other. She is always trying to be tough and confident, yet she finds herself drawn to you, one who is more compassionate and not as vicious. And you prefer to be like I said compassionate and non-violent, yet you're drawn to confidence and toughness."

A/N: NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!

"I see. That's why we were drawn to each other, yet it took us so long to understand such a thing," said Shinji. He let a smile come to his face. "And now that she's so happy, I can't believe we may lose all that soon," he finished as his smile faded.

"And that's why you gotta fight," Zack stated. "For that smile. So you can keep her smiling when you both return to Japan. Same reason why I gotta fight. So I can see Elly again." He yawned as he was rather tired himself. "Okay, enough talking. Let's finish off our orange juice so we can get some rest. We got a communist bastard to fight sooner or later. And I want to represent capitalism at my best."

"Okay, sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

Baltic Sea – Command Ship – Early morning hours

"This is a bit more like it," chuckled the young man wearing what looked like a black jumpsuit. "It's a good thing we followed him so far. Even better that he's letting us use his equipment to enable our cause." Indeed, Vladimir thought it was good that his master had provided the military power needed to carry out this invasion. Just outside the bridge of the flagship he was on, there were several warships, awaiting the order to carry out the invasion. Some were aircraft carriers, some carried battle tanks, others had loads of infantry, and other ships carried various supplies.

"Awaiting your orders sir," reported the second-in-command. "We can attack whenever you're ready."

"I know. I'm not ready yet," said Vladimir. "But Commander, while you're standing there, you can call for an EVA carrier plane. He'll know why you're requesting it."

"Yes sir." The man gave Vladimir the communist salute, then walked off. Once he had left, Vladimir walked over to the phone on the bridge, picked it up and dialed in a number.

"_Hello there my old friend,"_ Vladimir said in English into the phone. _"Did you miss me?"_ He listens for a bit as whoever he is speaking to says his piece. _"Yes I am the one leading the attack Keel. This is the best way to defeat Gendo Ikari's EVA pilots, by forcing him to divide his forces. Instead of facing all eight, he can only send four to fight me."_ Vladimir listens again. _"It was unfortunate that I was defeated by that bitch Kharlamov, but I am now more powerful than ever. Trust me Keel, I can feel the power flowing through me. I am ready to send this planet back on course to the fate that is meant for it." _Once more, Keel takes an opportunity to speak to the Reaper. _"Well send him my greetings. And tell him I'll bring her back dead too when I get the chance. Anyways, destiny awaits. So we must part." _He then hung up the phone.

Next he picked up the microphone, pressed the talk button and spoke into it. "Attention all forces. What lies ahead of us is our destined future. A future that promises us great prosperity However, there on the shore are misguided fools who wish to stand in our way. Anyone that gets in our way is our enemy." He paused for a moment before continuing. "You are all likely aware that there are four extremely powerful military weapons awaiting us that will challenge our resolve to win this war. They may snuff some of us out with no effort. But you must remain vigilant. They are powerful, but they are not invincible. They can be defeated. And be aware that one of them is a traitor who now fights on their side. Let this help your will to crush them. Let us go forth, and pave our destiny."

As Vladimir put the transmitter down, his commander returned. "Lord Topolov, your carrier will be here in a few minutes."

"Good," the Russian replied with a wicked smile. "Then everything is ready for my… special entrance. Those unsuspecting fools know not what awaits."

NERV Hamburg

By now, the sun had come up. This was it. The entire country of Germany was bracing for the impending invasion by the Russian forces. The surrounding towns and cities were being evacuated to protect the innocents from the incoming attack. If one looked around the area from high above, one could see that all military posts were manned, there were armed guards at every checkpoint.

Within the confines of NERV HQ, everyone else was at their post, the building littered with armed guards should Russia attempt to use a strike team to penetrate the heart of the German war effort. At Central Omicron, was where Field Operations Director Major Misato Katsuragi and NERV Commander Joachim Henkel directed the military operations, with Misato handling the EVAs and Joachim handling the rest of the military through his many officers that were on the front lines.

As for the EVA pilots themselves, they were to be set up in what looked like a reverse "T" formation. Ivana would engage the forces that landed on shore and such with Unit 04. Her job would be to flatten the shoreline offensive that crawled out from the Baltic Sea. Asuka was granted the task of being placed a little farther back, as there would likely be many forces that would make their way past Ivana, and she could deal with tanks and low flying aircraft. Zack and Shinji were even further back, and then spread out horizontally. Their task was to deal with anything that got by Asuka or Ivana, which would likely be shooting down enemy aircraft that Asuka would be unable to reach.

Now for Ivana, this was a painful game of waiting. She was in a secure position not far from the beach. Her EVA was flat out on its belly while cradling its weapon in hand. She wasn't able to see any ships approaching yet, but she knew they were out there. Armed with a positron rifle she was currently using and her double-bladed progressive sword nearby, she was ready for anything that was coming her way, including Vladimir.

'A part of me still doesn't understand why you jumped at power before common sense,' thought Ivana to herself as she positioned the rifle a little more. 'You knew first hand that I would never betray my people, even if I was in a better position after the fact. Loyalty comes first above all else. And my loyalty to my country and my family came first… and I'm sorry it had to come before your ambitions. But I will never forgive you for what you did because of those ambitions.'

Suddenly, an alarm went off in Unit 04. Ivana checked to see what the cause of the alarm was. Apparently it was a low flying cruise missile, and it was coming straight for her! Ivana quickly raised her EVA's AT Field to deflect the missile. It flew right at her, and exploded upon impact with the holy barrier. Ivana could then hear the alarms going off all over, as to alert the Germans that the Russians had indeed arrived. Ivana looked through the smoke and noticed something approaching: The Russian fleet.

'He's here.'

Elsewhere, Asuka was getting dulled just waiting for the enemy to arrive. "Hier in Bereitschaft zu sein is todlangweilig," she muttered as she waited in her precious Unit 02 for the enemy to arrive. "They had to pick a day like this to attack, especially when I was having one of my best dreams ever." Eyeing her weapon with a smile, she couldn't wait to unleash its force. Especially when it was a large Gatling gun that could unload over several hundred bullets in a clip. Suddenly, she heard the alarms going off. "Scheiße!" Asuka yelled. "Those bastards are here." She checked her rail gun to make sure it was locked and loaded, as our German hero was ready to unleash a craze of lead upon those who dared take hostile steps upon her home country. "Time to kick some serious ass!" she declared. "They had better watch out, as they will cry and pout when I come to town!"

"Hear that Shinji?" Zack asked as they were in position. Both of them were stationed closer to NERV HQ so it could be defended just in case something managed to get past Asuka or Ivana. The two of them were armed with missile launchers with heat seeking vision. "The commies are here. It's time to kick some ass!"

"I guess so," replied Shinji. "I hope this doesn't take too long."

Elsewhere in Central Omicron, Joachim and Misato were watching the events closely. "This is it," said Joachim. "It's everything or nothing."

Misato turned on the com. "Okay kids, this is the reason we came here. So far our sensors are detecting no sign of EVA Unit 10. Its signal has been downloaded into your EVA's computers. So you'll know when you detect it. You've all been assigned to your tasks, and you're to stay at your posts unless your position has been compromised. However, if you detect the sight of Unit 10, you are to engage it immediately and destroy it. The pilot as you know is extremely dangerous and may be heavily armed as well." She paused before she made her final statement. "Now go make us proud!"

Ivana looked ahead again. She saw the ships moving closer and closer. There were smaller ships coming out of the larger ships, which likely carried the Russian soldiers. She hated to have to kill her own countrymen, but it had to be done for her country had become twisted by evil. And she was not evil, so she had to stop them so they did not overthrow the world. Ivana aimed at the ship that she scoped out first, and fired several shots in hopes that they would reach her target. The shots did reach the target, as she noticed the explosions. She noticed there were helicopters and fighter jets about to fly overhead, so she contacted the others.

Zack, Shinji, and Asuka's visuals came on screen. "What's up?" Zack asked. "Getting cold feet?"

"Aerial craft heading towards your positions," Ivana reported ignoring him. "Be ready!"

"I was always ready," said Asuka. She saw the helicopters and fighter jets approaching her position. "And here comes the best part!" She took up her Gatling gun and took aim. "Eat lead you bastards!" she yelled as she opened fire, sending a flurry of bullets in the direction of the helicopters. Most of her shots obviously missed, but some hit home, as a few of the copters went down or moved about erratically before crashing into the ground.

Seeing a few fly past her, Asuka contacted Zack and Shinji. "Flying bastards heading your way!"

"I see them," answered Shinji. "Let's do this already."

"The hell we're going to do this," said Zack. "Remember what we talked about last night Shinji?"

"Yeah. I'm ready."

"Then good." Zack saw a few planes flying overhead. "Then let's shoot the damn things down!" Pointing his rocket launcher into the sky, he let the EVA's computer guide his already exceptional aim. 'Come on… gotcha!" Once the target was locked on, he released the missile. Shinji released his rocket a few moments later. They flew up like lights into the sky until they impacted the planes they were meant to hit.

"Bull's-eye!" cheered Zack. "Let's reload and fire again!"

Over the span of the next few hours, it had become bedlam. Ivana, overrun by enemy forces, was forced back from her original position and was now a lot closer to Asuka, who had finally run out of bullets after expending all fifteen thousand of them. Both of them now had their prog swords drawn and were doing what they could in unison with the German armed forces to try and suppress the surge of the Russians who were making their way towards the NERV base.

Zack and Shinji on another hand were now almost directly defending the NERV base from whatever else had breached Asuka and Ivana during the span of time. They both had their prog blades out, and spent time swiping at aircraft, missiles, or stomping on ground forces in an attempt to keep the enemy out of NERV at all costs.

Joachim liked the way this was going so far. There were many causalities obviously, but this was to be expected. He was currently giving a command to one of the many commanding officers on the battlefield. "Okay, inform your troops to cut off the Reds on the west in conjunction with Unit 04. The east has been recently contained by Unit 02. Once they've been cut off, Unit 01 and Unit 05 will assist in driving them back to sea. By then, we should have NATO's assistance to level the fleet in the Baltic Sea. So keep up the pressure."

"Yes sir," replied the voice over the com.

"We may actually pull this off," said Misato who also eyed the situation closely. But then she remembered about Vladimir. "But what about Topolov and Unit 10?"

"That's what I'm concerned about," replied Joachim. "To save his war effort, he'll have to show himself eventually. The fact that he hasn't shown up yet concerns me."

Suddenly, Asuka came in over the com. "Commander, I have a situation. The Russians were attacking me with everything they had, and then suddenly they stopped."

"I know," interjected Ivana. "They just stopped attacking. Some are pulling back too!"

"I third that," said Zack. "They're retreating!"

"What's going on?" Shinji wanted to know.

"Commander, something's coming in," reported a staff member. "Some sort of wave communication, very powerful wavelength. I can't read the identification though. It's in another language. I think it's Russian."

"Are they wussing out?" joked Zack. "They should have known what they were up against!"

"Let me see the readings," said Ivana. She took one look at them before turning white. "Oh my god… it's him. He's here."

"Put it through," ordered Joachim. Immediately the call was put through. And a visual of a boy appeared. This boy had short brown hair, almost like a crew cut, to go along with his blue eyes. He also had a sickening scar on his left cheek, made by Lord knows what.

"_And so we meet again… at last Ivana,_" the boy said in Russian. "_Did you miss me at all_?"

"Hey who the bloody fuck is that?" Zack interjected. "Hey asshole, if you don't mind, we're in the middle of a war here!"

"_But… how…_" Ivana was practically speechless.

"You'd be surprised at how I survived," said Vladimir switching to Japanese. "And you had best tell your friend to keep his mouth shut if he knows what's good for him."

"You're Vladimir Topolov?" inquired Joachim. "You're the one behind this?"

"Indeed I am," said Vladimir. "And for the sake of your entire country Commander Henkel, I advise that you surrender unconditionally before I annihilate you all mercilessly."

"We would never do such a thing," Joachim shot back. "Why don't you show yourself and really prove your mettle!"

"I will. And I'm closer than you think," Vladimir replied with a smug look. "I am also here to get my personal revenge on a certain someone, namely you Ivana Kharlamov!" he finished, with his face turning nasty.

"Don't you see what you've done? And what you're doing now?" Ivana fired back. "You've slaughtered countless innocents all in the sake of acquiring more power for your sick and twisted plans! This is exactly why I turned against you!"

"So naïve," muttered Vladimir. "If you don't know, God intends to destroy this world and everyone who doesn't agree with his plans. So we concocted a way to fight back. Third Impact was mankind's destiny to save itself from destruction. And I'm here to put this planet back on course, for its glorious future. Mankind's evolution, the power to challenge God for the throne. Don't you see the potential we could have with that kind of power?"

"You're insane!" shouted Asuka. "There was nothing good about Third Impact!"

"Really?" retorted Vladimir. "Then why did Shinji go through with it?"

Shinji gasped. He didn't see this one coming. "I… I…"

"Know what? How to bond with people?" Vladimir went on. "That was your chance, to become significant. You always wanted people to know you existed. By bonding with mankind, that was your one shot. And you blew it. You're a nobody again, just some kid who pilots EVA for his no-good father's bidding."

"Shut up!" roared Asuka in Shinji's defense, who just sat there speechless with a spaced out look on his face. Asuka went on, "Who the fuck do you think you are anyways?"

"Who do I think I am?" replied Vladimir with mock shock. "I am just one that sees the truth. One who sees the future of this world. My master intends to save this world from that bastard sitting in his little place called heaven. And I am his Grim Reaper, his Angel of Death. And as such, I cast judgment on you four. Death! Prepare yourselves!"

Asuka noticed Shinji was still kind of out of it. "Shinji! Snap out of it! Don't even listen to that asshole! He's lying! So fucking what if you're a nobody! We're all nobodies! That's what you taught me!"

"I'm useless… pathetic…" Shinji muttered. "I ruined my only chance…"

"Don't make me come over there and kick you in the nuts until you say you're not pathetic," his girlfriend threatened.

"Dude, the only pathetic one is that bastard who can't even show himself. Oh, we should all converge on the same location," put in Zack.

"They're right Shinji," Ivana included. "You made a difficult choice, knowing the way people were acting at that time. And it was the right choice. Now let's take this bastard down and defend that choice!"

"You honestly believe you can defeat me Ivana?" laughed Vladimir. "I am more powerful than ever. You thought I was tough before, just you wait. I'll finally have my revenge!"

The EVAs moved closely together, so in case Vladimir caught them by surprise, they would be able to fend him off quickly. But after a few minutes, there was no sign of him anywhere.

"I guess he's bluffing," declared Zack. "Unless he's invisible."

"Then he'd be emitting some sort of wave pattern," Asuka pondered. "Anyways, keep your head up."

Suddenly, Shinji picked something up on his EVA's sensors. "Something's coming, but where?"

Ivana heard something come from above, so she looked up. It couldn't be any sort of aircraft, because once Vladimir showed up, all German military forces were to pull back because Topolov was indeed deemed that dangerous. She saw something black falling down at rapid speed. "ABOVE!!!" she screamed.

Everyone just needed one look to find a reason to scatter. The black object slammed into the ground with immense force. Through the smoke, Ivana could see exactly what it was. A black EVA. It stood up, revealing its full self. She could see that it was holding two prog swords in its hands. Vladimir… was here.

And so it began. The fight against Vladimir had begun. He lunged at Ivana first with his twin blades. She blocked both attacks quickly, and repelled back. Asuka came in on another angle, but Vladimir, with amazing speed blocked her attacks too and pushed her back. After quickly pushing Ivana back too, he turned to face Zack and Shinji.

Shinji and Zack simultaneously attacked Vladimir, but the Russian may as well have been the ultimate in multitasking. He was able to use both of his blades to block the one blade the two male pilots each used. Next Vladimir sensed that Ivana and Asuka would attack soon. Out of nowhere, he jumped backwards, soaring high into the air. He landed behind Asuka and Ivana who were dumbfounded by his abilities.

On foot, he charged at them at very high speed. Using his AT Field, he may as well have the force of a missile behind them, as he bowled through all four of them. Shinji was the first to make it back to his feet. He was frightened of this terrifying foe, but for his sake, and Asuka's, he would fight. He ran right at Vladimir, sword held out. Vladimir attacked quickly, with his left sword, forcing Shinji to move his sword to his right. The Reaper followed up with a waist high right handed cut, forcing Shinji back to his left. They continued to exchange blows, with Shinji completely on the defensive.

Unbeknownst to Shinji, Vladimir was toying with him. He easily forced Shinji's sword off to the side, before turning around and delivering a forceful kick to the chin of Unit 01, sending the EVA and its pilot flying. Shinji hit the ground hard, and was stunned.

"Shinji!" Asuka cried as she saw her boyfriend hit the ground. "You'll pay for that!" She picked up her sword and charged Vladimir. Despite having one less sword, she was actually having Vladimir on the defensive for some time… or so she thought. She thought she had him forcing to keep both his swords in front of him. However, as Vladimir turned to his left, he followed up with his right hand sword, only to complete his revolution and come back around with his left hand sword. This caught Asuka completely by surprise and was forced to backpedal to save herself from being hit by an attack she could not predict.

"You kids are decent, but nowhere near enough for my skills," Vladimir declared. "In fact, once my shipment arrives, you will absolutely… no chance of defeating me."

"Says who?" shot back Zack. "Shinji and Asuka aren't much of fighters. Take on a real fighter for once!" Zack stepped up. "You got no chance against the powers of capitalism!" Now the Canadian ran up to Vladimir, and brought his sword down on the Russian. Vladimir crossed his swords and caught Casanova's sword, took a few swipes, then pushed him back easily.

"Is this the best you can do?" asked Vladimir mockingly. He then noticed something. "Oh look, my shipment is here." He pointed up to reveal a carrier jet holding a box suspended in the air just below it. The crew on board the jet released the box, letting it fall to the ground. Vladimir opened the box and pulled it out box's contents to reveal a large scythe.

"Oh no," Ivana was horrified. "Not that weapon. Not that weapon."

"What's wrong with a giant farm tool?" asked Zack.

"You idiot, that's his favourite weapon," growled Ivana. "If we don't stop him now, we're done for."

"You **ARE** done for!" roared Vladimir as he jumped into the sky, scythe in hand. His first target was Shinji. Desperately, Unit 01 rolled out of the way just in the nick of time and dodged the lethal blade. He then got up and attacked Vladimir. Topolov easily blocked the sword assault along with a few other attacks. To get a few moments to ponder how to battle against a scythe, Shinji entered a test of strength and appeared to be trying to push Vladimir back. But to Shinji's shock, Vladimir used the other end of the scythe to hit Shinji in the face! This knocked Shinji completely off balance. Vladimir rotated 360 degrees and used the scythe to severely slash Unit 01 across the mid to lower chest. And to everyone's horror, Vladimir shish kabobbed Shinji through the chest with the back end of the scythe!

Asuka looked on at the sight with horror in her eyes. She found herself almost short of breath when Vladimir pulled his scythe out of Unit 01 and it collapsed to the ground. "Oh my god… it… it can't be… he can't be dead…"

"Asuka! Calm down!" ordered Ivana. "If we attack irrationally, he'll destroy us all!"

"SHUT UP!" roared Asuka. "DAMN YOU BASTARD!"

"Oops, did I just kill your boyfriend?" Vladimir asked with false concern. "I'm so sorry. I just had to spill someone's blood today."

"I'll kill you!" yelled Asuka as she commanded Unit 02 to attack Unit 10. To everyone's surprise, she jumped in the air and drop kicked Unit 10, knocking it flying. Once Asuka had a moment, she shook the fallen Unit 01. "Shinji? SHINJI?" she called out, trying to shake Shinji into consciousness. On the visual he didn't look so good. There was some blood trickling out of his mouth due to the injuries he had suffered at the hands of that bastard.

"Asuka… I feel so… cold…" Shinji struggled to say.

"You idiot! Don't talk! Save your strength! We'll get you help."

By now, Unit 10 had made its way back to its feet. It appeared completely unharmed by Asuka's vicious assault. "Well that definitely got the blood flowing. I should thank you. I was feeling a little stiff this morning."

"Asuka… I'm sorry…" Shinji muttered.

"Look you're going to be okay. And don't apologize," said Asuka.

"So sorry…" Shinji reached his hand towards the screen before his arm went limp and his eyes closed.

Asuka… didn't know how to react. Everything she had fought so hard for. A decent life, something where she didn't feel she had to prove herself the best, someone that loved her merely for who she was and nothing else, had passed on.

"Shinji? Shinji? SHINJI????" It was no use. He was dead. Shinji Ikari… the saviour of the world, and Asuka's only love… was dead. Asuka then just broke down sobbing on the field, mourning her boyfriend's death.

"Aww boohoo," taunted Vladimir. "You gonna sit there and cry?" He picked up his scythe. "If you are, I'll come back and kill you when you're ready."

That was it. This man… no he wasn't a man. He was a monster. One who got his kicks out of killing people. All of Asuka's buttons had been pushed. She noticed Shinji's sword was still in Unit 01's hand. Grasping it with her offhand, she silently vowed to avenge his death. "Vladimir…"

"Yes my dear?" he replied with a taunting tone.

"Dich reiße ich in Stücke!" she screamed, with tears still in her eyes. She charged at him with two prog swords in her hands. And now Asuka engaged Vladimir, and had him on the run too. Little did she know that her sync score had shot up from 81 to a 97.3 in this rain of fury. For a time, they appeared to be equals. But one must know that when it came to fighting this menace, there had to be more than met the eye.

"Come now child," Vladimir continued to taunt. "You can't keep attacking me like this. You'll just wear yourself out."

"SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!" she yelled again as she continued to rain down strike after strike on Vladimir's scythe.

But Vladimir had her figured out. She was only attack with standard attacks and was holding her swords way too tightly. Once she left an opening with her dual blade attacks, she was done in his opinion. And there it was, she swung with her right sword too far to her left. Vladimir quickly turned his scythe so that he could push Asuka almost ninety degrees to her left. Vladimir then spun right around to his right, a quick turn of the blade, and it had found itself in the back of Unit 02.

Asuka felt like something pierced her back. She winced with pain. "Damn you damn you damn you!" she grunted.

"Damn this!" growled Vladimir as he ripped his scythe right through, taking a large piece out of Unit 02's right side. As a result, Asuka felt like she had been dealt a fatal blow, and like her, Unit 02 collapsed to the ground.

"Asuka!" Ivana shouted. "Please be alive!"

"Shinji… I'm coming…" was the last thing Asuka said before she closed her eyes and slipped away.

"Oh no," whispered Zack to himself. "This can't be happening."

NERV Hamburg

Elsewhere, Commander Henkel was devastated by the results he was seeing on the battlefield. But he had to stay in control, otherwise his subordinates would lose all of their will to stay strong as well. "This is not good. This is not good."

"They have to be okay!" said Misato, who was wiping away tears. "Do we have any information on Shinji and Asuka's life signs?" she desperately asked, hoping there was some way of knowing that the two would be okay.

"I got nothing!" a technician replied. "Unit 01 and Unit 02 are showing no signs of activity. "I can't get any sort of readings on them!"

"Oh my god… oh my god!" Misato suddenly shouted, her composure cracking. "We have to help them! Can we send in someone?"

"We cannot! We send in anyone, and we'll be sending them to their deaths as well. It's suicidal!" Joachim yelled, trying to knock some sense into Misato.

"We can't leave them to die!" Misato argued back. "We have to do something!"

"Wait, there is something we can do," said Joachim. He whipped out a satellite phone, and dialed a number. A few seconds later, it rang. "Hello? Gendo I need your help!"

Battlefield – Vladimir 2 – Our Heroes 0

Many more minutes of battle now had the weary Zack Harper of Unit 05 and Ivana Kharlamov of Unit 04, the two best melee fighters in the EVA squadron, against the somehow unstoppable Vladimir Topolov of Unit 10. Using his progressive scythe, he had already slain Asuka and Shinji and now seemed moments away from taking down either Zack or Ivana.

"You seemed so smug before you Canadian sissy, but now I see you're like all those other capitalist pigs. You're powerful because you get everyone else to do your dirty work, but when push comes to shove, you're powerless!"

"I may be powerless, but I'm not a cold blooded murderer!" Zack yelled as he attacked again and again. "You are just plain insane. And you'll pay for what you've done!" He continued his relentless fury. Vladimir tried to counter, but Zack caught his scythe with his sword and had him locked. Ivana saw her opening and prepared to go for it, but the Reaper pulled another trick out of the bag. He kicked Unit 05 in the chest area, then spun around and delivered a nasty kick to the chin of Unit 05, knocking it right down and stunning the Canadian.

"Now this is what I've been waiting for," said Vladimir. "My chance to personally kill you with my newfound power!"

"I don't know what will happen, but I know you will not succeed here today," declared Ivana. "I am sure of it."

"Sure you are," Vladimir readied his scythe. "I thought you knew I am not the same Vladimir you fought and defeated prior to 3rd Impact. I guess you thought wrong!" he yelled as he charged Ivana.

Ivana defended as best she could with her double-bladed progressive sword. But even though she had him outnumbered two blades to one, he was definitely different. He was faster, crueler, and much more vicious than he had ever been. Definitely much more than when they had fought in the NERV base, and then again in the heart of Moscow. But he was much too fast to land a hit on. However, she knew that she was fast enough to stop him from injuring her as long as stayed on the defensive until Casanova put his head back on his shoulders.

"You think you can run do you bitch?" Vladimir questioned. "Well if that's the case, let me show you a taste of my ultimate power. He jumped high into the sky, and began to swing his scythe way above his head in a circle. "AT…" he began.

'What the… oh no,' thought Ivana as she dreaded what this was. She knew it was some sort of AT Field technique similar to what Shinji had. But what? She was about to find out.

Zack by now had put that thick head of his back on his shoulders. He saw Vladimir suspended way up in the air. The sky had darkened, and the communist was swinging his scythe around in a circle. Zack could have sworn the guy had said 'AT' something but he didn't hear the rest. He was about to go help Ivana when…

"RINGS OF HELL!" Vladimir finished making a swinging motion towards Ivana. In an instant, several black rings materialized above Vladimir and hurtled their way at the Russian girl, who had no chance in hell to defend herself. The rings hit Ivana with full force and exploded upon impact sending the white EVA soaring before crashing violently on the ground.

"I DID IT!" Vladimir cheered as he saw the sight of a destroyed Unit 04 in front of him. "I got you, you fucking bitch! Now let's see you suffer for eternity." Unit 10 then landed on the ground. He turned back to face Unit 05. "And then… there was one."

Zack for the first time, was terrified. In his honest to God point of view, he had no chance of defeating Vladimir. However, his instincts told him that he had to try. Anything was better than abandoning your comrades who had put their lives on the line for you. Zack picked up his sword and entered a battle stance. He was all alone out there. With no one to help him. Shinji, Asuka, and Ivana all dead. No one to turn to. Nothing. Nothing except a monster wielding a scythe, ready to snuff out his 15-year-old life like it was an annoying mosquito.

Zack saw Unit 10 bend its knees, then jump into the air ready to strike him down.


	69. Project V Part 6: Shattered

A/N: On with it.

Disclaimer: Okay, really quickly. I got the simulator idea from a friend, Marine Brother Shran, an excellent author who helps me with my work from time to time.

Supersonic Jet – VERY FAST

"Elly select your weapons," said a voice.

"I'll take two assault rifles mate," she responded flatly. Now was not the time for silly tones or jokes. Elly Simpson and Rei Ayanami as of one and a half hours ago were summoned by Commander Ikari, placed on a supersonic jet, and were now bound for Hamburg, Germany at alarmingly high speeds. According to what she was told, Shinji, Asuka, Zack, and Ivana were in serious trouble and required immediate evacuation. Reported indicated that Vladimir Topolov had overpowered them, leaving evacuation the only choice. The mission was to evacuate the pilots and leave the immediate vicinity while avoiding a direct confrontation with Unit 10.

"And you Rei? Which weapons?" Dr Akagi asked.

"Gatling gun and progressive sword," was Rei's crisp reply. Elly and Rei were currently in their respective EVAs as the air convoy silently advanced towards Hamburg. There were enough carriers to pick up each EVA, along some of Japan's top guns to assist in.

"Okay you two listen up," said Ritsuko. "We'll be at our destination in just over five minutes. The scene you are about to witness is not pretty. There will be bodies, and debris everywhere. However, you two are to ignore it and focus on your task: retrieve the other Evangelions."

"And what about Unit 10?" Elly asked. "That guy will cause problems if we get too close."

"That's what your weapons are for," answered the doctor. "Our weapons along with neutralizing his AT Field should keep him at bay. Rei, you along with the Japanese air force are to keep Vladimir at bay. Elly, your job is to retrieve the other EVAs and latch them in the carriers. Priority goes to the most heavily damaged EVA. Are you girls ready?"

"Yes ma'am," both girls responded.

"Good. And one last thing; you probably heard this from the Commander already, but I will say it again: do not, and I mean **do not** engage Unit 10 directly or give chase if we force him to flee. Now go bring those kids back."

As the convoy advanced the two pilots and Ritsuko reviewed the data. According to the information retrieved from NERV Hamburg, communications with the EVAs on the battlefield was cut. Reports also indicated three of them were seriously wounded, and required immediate medical care. So that obviously meant someone was still standing, even after what may have been an hour or two. One could only hope that the others could be retrieved in time.

"Dr. Akagi, the carriers can't take much more of this speed," one pilot reported. "They're going way beyond their limits. We're risking thermal breakdown!"

"It's not much further," the doctor said. "Okay girls, prepare to be dropped. Decrease speed and lower altitude!" In response, the carriers began their descent from an already low altitude, and decreased speed to reduce the bumpy landing Elly and Rei were about to have. Units were ready for combat. Unit 00 with its Gatling gun ready in hands, and sword on its back prepared for a ranged assault. Unit 06 geared in A-Type heavy armour with both assault rifles in hand, was ready to charge headlong into battle.

"We're being to receive some readings," Maya Ibuki report, who was also onboard, worked on a laptop computer. "I'm detecting three life signs close by, and several about a few miles further away."

"What?" Elly cried out. "Only three? There should be four, five if you include that Russian bastard!"

"Simpson, concentrate!" Ritsuko snapped. "Prepare to be dropped!" Both girls grunted in response as they prepared.

"Drop Unit 06!" Following her orders, the final locks were released and the EVAs dropped. Following its landing Unit 06 immediately dashed towards the battlefield. From her vantage point Rei could see ahead. There were at least two visible objects within sight. To her observation, she could make out what appeared to be a green EVA sitting holding a progressive sword confirming Zack was still alive. Towering over Zack and Unit 05 was a black EVA wielding a scythe. Rei determined the black EVA was Vladimir's.

As she tuned her communications, she happened upon the conversation, "Just give up. You've been at this for what, an hour now? You're clearly exhausted. Tell you what, I'll make this quick if you give up."

"Screw you… asshole…" Zack panted in reply. "I'll never… surrender to you…"

"Guess I'll just have to-" Vladimir was cut off as the sight of jetfighters, air carriers appeared on his screen. One of which carriers carried a blue EVA holding a large Gatling gun while on the ground a pink EVA rapidly approached.

"_OH SHIT_!" Vladimir roared in Russian and took off running for shelter, as all available forces opened fire on Unit 10. Not far behind him was a hail of bullets all pointed in his direction. Vladimir ran as if God himself was on his tail. He ran from cover to cover, only to be flushed out by the jetfighters. As the fighters harried Unit 10, five carriers began their rapid descent, soon touching down prepped for receiving an Evangelion before take off.

"SHOOT HIM DOWN! SHOOT HIM DOWN!" Zack screamed as he saw what was happening.

"Zack, get up!" Elly called to him.

"What's going on?" Zack called back.

"We're in retreat! We were sent here to pick you up! Help me get the others into the carriers!" Elly demanded. "The Russian army is coming back, so we have to get out of here!" Elly saw Unit 05 make its way to its feet to get the fallen Units 01, 02 and 04 into the carriers for retrieval. Vladimir, while under heavy fire, saw the EVAs he defeated earlier being placed into carriers.

"Oh no you don't!" he roared charging towards Unit 05 and 06. But before Unit 10 could take so much as a step, Unit 00 fell landed before, progressive sword drawn.

"You shall not pass," Rei hissed. Staring down his opponent Vladimir pondered his situation. Keep pushing forward, as he had been for a while now and face two fresh fighters, or retreat and fail the mission his master requested he complete, and face the price of failure. The latter ranked higher in his mind, and he lunged at Unit 00. Rei saw his attack easily blocked the attack. She remembered Dr. Akagi's orders not to engage Vladimir, but to keep him at bay.

"Backup!" she called into the com as her blade was locked with the Russian's. But he didn't stop. Immediately pulling back, Vladimir twirled his weapon before swinging his weapon down in a vertical slash. Reacting on instinct Unit 00 flipped back as the blade hammered the ground she had previously stood on. Rei watched in surprise as the spot she had stood prior exploded in a spray of dirt and rock. Rei came to a deadly realization to the extent of his strength and power. She could not risk getting hit by the weapon.

Vladimir roared as he brought the rear end of his weapon around, revealing the spear end as he tried to slash her. Bringing her sword up Rei blocked the strike, but to her horror the blade imbedded itself into her weapon. Her arms suddenly felt numb as she realized physically the force of his blow. Looking up she saw the fighters approaching.

As the fighters neared they open fired their rockets at the EVAs locked in combat. With her strength Rei pushed the sword far back as she could, extended her AT field, cancelling out Vladimir's. Unit 00 narrowly rolled away as the rockets impacted Unit 10.

"Damn it!" Vladimir roared in pain. Warily getting back up he was once more forced to flee or risk taking damage.

"Let's get out of here," Elly commanded. "They're secure so let's bail out!"

"Understood," Rei obliged. Once Elly and Rei were secure in their carriers, they took off. As they left, several bombers suddenly appeared. Everyone watched as they began rapid descent. Blow bay doors opened revealing their payload. Pilots began to pull up as bombs rained from the sky, littering the ground with them. As each bomb touched the ground, they released their fiery payload, ripping the ground and everything else asunder. The grounds once known as Hamburg transformed into a wasteland as the bombs carved new scars atop the old scars of World War 2, igniting old bombs left behind, opening old wounds the Earth had hidden. Their job to prevent the enemy from following done, the bomber squadron reversed course, and joined the convoy. With the matter dealt with and the convoy en route to Berlin and the second German NERV base, she proceeded with the next step.

"Retrieve the pilots now," Dr. Akagi ordered to the crews on the other aircrafts. "I want the status of all four pilots as soon as possible." She put the headset down and walked over to Maya who was still on her laptop. "Get me a visual of all the pilots immediately."

"Yes ma'am. Visuals on screen… oh my god," the lieutenant gasped at the sights she saw.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Onboard a ship in the Baltic Sea

It took the best of about 30 minutes for Vladimir to return to the ship. He had to deliver a report of the battle to his master. It probably wouldn't be the most satisfactory report, as many casualties were sustained in that battle. But hopefully his master would forgive him when he reported that he had almost literally bowled over the EVAs sent by Gendo Ikari and that this retrieval mission had caught him by surprise. Well only time would tell.

He was now standing on the bridge of his command ship by himself, as he had ordered everyone else to leave him be unless there were urgent military developments. Vladimir's master had his way of appearing whenever and wherever, so hopefully he would show up and Vladimir could get this over with.

"So Vladimir my boy," a voice called out from behind him. "Let's hear how it went. I'm eager to know what happened in your debut battle."

Vladimir turned around to face his master, wearing his black cloak and hood which covered all but his mouth. "The strategy did not go perfectly as planned my lord," he replied, deciding that honesty was the best route in getting some sort of mercy. "We had trouble getting inland at first, and our surge took longer than expected."

"Ah well, the Demon Surge Unit knew what was ahead," the man said in response. "I expected heavy casualties anyways. It was best to let them get comfortable before a change of strategy was in order. Though I had always figured that they knew our surge would get only as far as Lübeck."

"But then as they noticed our pullback, they began their own pullback, centering most of their army between Hamburg and Lübeck," Vladimir continued. "That's when I decided to step in and break the back of their resistance."

"Ah yes," the man said with delight. "And how did your little handicap match go?"

"It went amazing at first," Vladimir continued. "I decided to start with dual prog swords at first, so as to confuse them. Because I knew I would get bored without spilling any blood, I ordered that my scythe be brought into battle a few minutes after I engaged them in battle. And that's where it all went downhill for those losers. I picked them apart… one… by one." He paused for a moment, then continued. "However, the pilot of Unit 05 had an increasingly stubborn streak, and a great deal of stupidity in the face of a greater power, and unfortunately he was going to take a lot longer to kill. He knew I could use AT techniques, so he saw them coming."

"Did you defeat him eventually?" the hooded man inquired.

"Yes, after a grueling hour he was eventually worn down and I was about to kill him as I did the others, but I was ambushed by a retrieval team which had two more EVAs with them. And with the EVA's ability to neutralize my AT Field, standing around and fighting while being bombarded was the last thing to do. So unfortunately, I was unable to capture Unit 01 as you demanded. I am sorry." Vladimir bent down on a knee. "I request forgiveness and a second chance to make things right."

"Do you know exactly what you did, that still makes me very pleased?" the man asked of the Russian. Vladimir shook his head no, so the man explained. "Although you didn't capture Unit 01, I am immensely pleased with your performance out there. You severely damaged three out of four EVA units by yourself, and possibly killed the pilots too. Their main force deployed specifically to combat you has been thoroughly beaten by the sole effort of you alone. You have shattered the morale of the entire German force as well as the other EVA pilots. I believe what they have now, which is likely three EVAs are no match for you. When we march on Berlin, I am sure that it will not be difficult to achieve total victory. And the rest of the world will not stand a chance against our power. It is for that, that I am proud of you. Great work my child."

Vladimir looked up at his master with a smile, "Thank you, my master."

---------------------------

NERV – Berlin – Central Lambda

The last few hours were some of the worst Misato had ever endured. It seemed like everything was going okay with the war effort at first. The Russians surged towards Hamburg as best they could, but Asuka and Ivana in conjunction with the German army had appeared to have thwarted the assault. And then the Russians were in retreat for reasons unknown, only to have that… bastard Vladimir Topolov showed up in surprise.

It was a tough battle and it seemed Vladimir had the upper hand. Well they all knew he was no ordinary foe. But then in the blink of an eye, Vladimir cruelly struck down Shinji. This pretty much brought Asuka to her knees, as she mourned Shinji's defeat. But she didn't last long either, as she was taken down in a rage by the scythe of Vladimir. Commander Henkel then contacted Commander Ikari and requested help. That was where Rei and Elly were to come in and assist. Ivana and Zack then desperately fended off Vladimir until help could arrive. But as they raged on, Commander Henkel ordered an evacuation, determining that Zack and Ivana was no match for the 'Russian Reaper.' Not long after, Ivana's EVA was pulverized by some strange attack launched by Vladimir. And as Zack stood alone, he alone stonewalled Vladimir from harming any of the evacuees. And he refused assistance from any German forces, stating that they would be destroyed and be a liability to him. And then Zack passed on a message for Elly to Misato, telling her that if he didn't make it back that Elly would become an heir to the Harper fortune when his father passed on. That was the last Misato had heard from Zack or any of the other EVA pilots for that matter.

That was two hours ago since Misato last had contact with Casanova. And she would probably be ready to do anything just to hear him make some stupid remark. She noticed Commander Henkel walk into the room. "Have you heard anything?"

"Yes I have Misato," answered Joachim. "Unit 06 has made contact, and they will be here in five minutes."

"Oh my god," said Misato, "did she say anything else?"

"Yes," Joachim bent his head down. "And apparently, it's not good news. Pilots Ikari, Sohryu, and Kharlamov are in critical condition from what she said." He paused before speaking. "Pilot Harper, the Canadian was the only one standing when she arrived on the scene. He held Topolov off."

"What else? What else?" Misato demanded to know.

"I think you'd better have Dr. Akagi explain the rest further to you."

Within ten minutes, the three pilots: Shinji, Asuka, and Ivana were all rushed into the ER without Misato even getting to see them. As much as Misato fussed, the nurses refused to allow her access, as the doctors stated their conditions were extremely critical. So now Misato found herself seeing the only patient she was allowed to see: Casanova. He was snoozing on the hospital bed provided for him. Misato silently begged for him to wake up so she could know for sure that he was okay.

Elly sat on the opposite side of the bed, frowning at the site of Zack being hooked up to this system to assist him in his recovery. "I wish he would wake up soon," she mumbled. "He passed out not long after we were picked up. Guy must've given it all he had."

"Would he know if Shinji and Asuka are okay?" Misato asked Elly. "Did he say anything?"

"No he didn't mate," Elly answered. "He was screaming for us to shoot down Vladimir when we saw him. Damn bastard almost cleaved Zack down the middle."

"I see," sighed Misato. "So he doesn't even know for sure."

"Know what?" a voice mumbled. Elly and Misato turned in the direction of the voice to see a lazy-eyed Casanova.

"Zack, oh my god!" Misato swamped him with a hug. "You're okay right?"

"Yeah, I'd like to believe so, because I'm not sure I can feel my ribs," Zack winced under the bone crushing hug of his guardian. She did release him eventually.

"It's really you right? Say something stupid," cried Misato who fought back a few tears.

"You sure you're not a man under that jacket?" Zack asked, complying with Misato's request to say something stupid. "Ouch you hug hard."

"It is you," Misato said with a smile. "I was so worried about you. Why did you have to fend off Vladimir like that? You could have been killed."

"I don't know," replied Zack. "When it came down to it, I was the only thing standing between Vladimir and any other chance we have at mounting a stand against that bastard. Speaking of which, what about Shinji, Asuka and Ivana?"

"I don't know mate," Elly sighed. She took his hand in hers, "we didn't get the chance to check on them because we were on the fly."

"Major Katsuragi," a doctor called out as he walked into the room. Ritsuko was with him holding a clipboard with documents on it. "I'm Dr. Adam Marx. I examined the three pilots in your care Major."

"How are they???" Misato demanded standing up and grabbing the doctor by his jacket collar. "Are they alright???"

Ritsuko stepped forward. "This will not be easy, for even you to hear… Misato." Once Misato released the doctor, she took a deep breath and spoke, "Ivana sustained some serious injuries in the battle: Cracked ribs, a muscle tear in her left leg, another tear in her triceps muscle, and sustained some first degree burns to about ten percent of her body. She will be out for a while, but she will recover."

"And what about Shinji and Asuka?" Misato begged. "Are they… oh no…"

"I'm sorry Misato," Ritsuko said with a resigned look on her face. "Shinji and Asuka are dead."

Misato was horrified. "No… they can't be… they can't be dead."

"I'm sorry," said Dr. Marx. "They were both pronounced dead upon arrival here."

What happened next was predictable and inevitable. Misato had quickly broken down and sobbed loudly into Ritsuko's shoulder, who was also trying to keep herself from breaking down. Elly had broken into tears as well, as reality was finally settling in for her. She never had anything against Asuka, and that she was just fun to tease. But at the same time, it was painful to see two people you know personally just snuffed out of existence at the hands of what some had called a madman. She was now crying into Zack's chest, as he just comforted her. He had a few tears strolling down his face too. He never had anything against Asuka despite all the times he had been sacked, and Shinji was a good friend he had made since he arrived in Japan. This was just a nightmare. The dysfunctional family was now shattered by the deaths of its two most famous members.

Zack though, had a question. "Do you know how they died?"

"We're going to be doing their autopsies very shortly," said Ritsuko trying her best to remain professional. "Once we know how they died, you three will be the first to know." She released Misato from the embrace to reveal a red-faced teary eyed woman who just slumped into a chair to continue her crying.

-------------------------------

Rooftop – NERV Berlin

Rei Ayanami stood by herself at one of the military posts, aimlessly watching the landscape. It rained heavily, reflecting the general mood of the NERV base. Fortunately her post had some degree of shelter keeping her dry. Not long ago, Zack informed her about the biggest news to affect the entire EVA crew: the tragic deaths of Asuka Langley Sohryu, and Shinji Ikari.

'I am familiar with death. I have witnessed the deaths of many over my span of existence,' she thought to herself. 'I myself have died four times. Yet why does this feel different from any other time a person has died? Why does my body tremble?' This foreign feeling had completely occupied Rei's train of thought. Feeling a sudden wetness upon her cheeks she brought a hand up to her face, realizing something. She was crying.

'Tears; those come when a person is crying. Why am I crying? People cry when they are sad. Am I sad?' she asked herself. 'Shinji… my brother is dead. Is that why I am crying, why I am sad? It must be. That must be the reason behind this uncontrollable feeling.' She reached into her pocket to pull out Shinji's SDAT player, probably his most prized possession. She remembered how Misato told her if she was feeling a certain way she should express the feeling and not be afraid or nervous to let it out. Feelings and emotions were what made people human beings. Rei could tell that something was welling up inside her, and it would be better for her if she could release the feeling. She let her feelings spoke for her. Rei slumped into her chair and buried her face into her hands. For the first time, she wept for the loss of her brother Shinji, and her fellow teammate Asuka.

------------------------------

Tokyo-3

"What? It can't be? That can't be true?" Hikari shrieked into the phone. Her face continued to lose color as she listened. Her body began to tremble, clutching the phone tightly in both hands.

"You listen Casanova, if you're jerking me around, you're gonna be in for three worlds of pain when you get…" her voice trailed off at what Zack apparently said on the other end. "Oh my god…"

"What's wrong Hikari?" asked Toji who was currently eating dinner Hikari had cooked. Although Hikari won the bet in the simulation battle, Toji loved her cooking and promised dinner on him another time when it didn't rain. "Did something happen to Shinji and them in Germany?" Hikari put the phone down, and looked at Toji with tears streaming down her eyes.

"It's Shinji and Asuka. They've been… k-k-k…they're dead!" Toji immediately dropped his chopsticks.

"W-w-what?!"

"They…they're dead," she sobbed, as she dove into chest and wept. Toji could only sit there, as the news processed. Here he was having a quiet dinner with Hikari, only to suddenly receive a cold hard slap as he received the news. His mind slowly began to fathom the passing of his friends and as understanding dawned upon him, so did his emotions. Both held onto each other tightly as they wept, the comfortable peace of their dinner, and their lives shattered in an instant, never to recover.

---------------------------------

NERV HQ – Gendo Ikari's Office

"I see," said Gendo Ikari as he spoke into a videophone on his computer. "Can I have visual proof please?" He looked at an image on his computer, with no change in his facial expression. "Do you know the causes for both of them?" A long pause goes by, with Gendo listening, with only the breathing of him and Fuyutski being heard in the room. "I see. Have Commander Henkel fax the death certificates and any other information to me then. And I request that Pilot Shinji Ikari's body be returned to Japan, where he can be… laid to rest. As for Pilot Asuka Sohryu's body whether Commander Henkel wishes to keep her body to be buried in Germany or brought to Japan is up to him." Another pause goes by. "Thank you. Tell Commander Henkel I'll be in touch." Gendo then hung up the phone.

"So what were their causes of death Gendo?" asked Fuyutski.

"According to Dr. Akagi," replied Gendo Ikari, Pilot Shinji Ikari died of cardiogenic shock, as a result of the mental trauma from being skewered by the progressive scythe of Unit 10. His heart couldn't pump enough blood in time and he went into cardiac arrest. He died within minutes.

"And Sohryu?"

"During a moment in battle," Gendo continued, "she had a very high sync ratio. Of course when one has a sync ratio above ninety, they are much more potent and powerful. However, the drawback is that the pain felt in battle is much more intense than with a lower sync ratio."

"So she took serious damage while having a high sync ratio?"

"That is correct. The injury she took severely ruptured an artery in her midsection. The massive bleeding bled over into her organs, compressing them and killing her. She likely took about thirty minutes to die from the combination of internal bleeding and multiple organ failure."

"I see. So should I see about arranging a state funeral for Shinji then?"

"Do that," said Gendo. "I have some other matters to attend to here." Once Fuyutski left the room and Gendo was all alone in the room. He pulled open a drawer and stuck his hand in reaching for something. Finding the item he was looking for, he pulled it out. It was a photo of him, Yui, and Shinji before that fateful day before Yui disappeared. Now Gendo truly was all alone. Yui was trapped in Unit 01 and beyond reach now, and now he had learned that his son, his only son that he had sent into combat numerous times without regard for his life, was now gone. And at a time where Gendo was trying his hardest to reconcile with him.

'Why?' the man thought to himself. 'Is this my true punishment, for trying to initiate Third Impact? I tried to bring everyone together, but now I am more alone than ever.' Tears began to show in Gendo's eyes. He could never be sorrier for not being a good father or husband. He had failed both Yui and Shinji. And now his punishment would be to never have either.

----------------------------

The actions of just one or two people often can have a profound affect on the world, but are often ignored by the masses. But yet when it comes to the death of some of the greatest people in the world, it is felt by all others, leaving an echo, bringing sadness and sorrow to those who hear it. The once powerful and well known Shinji Ikari, and Asuka Sohryu, whose lives were filled with promise, was snuffed out in an instant, ending their lineage, destroying any potential they may have had.

Everything one does, everything one say leaves an echo. Depending on the force and the energy in it, potentially reaches the ears of mankind, possibly traveling deep through time, depending on those affected. Their deaths had left behind a powerful echo, screaming into the minds of those who knew and loved them. Their echo would long resonate in the minds of those who knew them for years to come. It was their echo and the events that lead to that echo that will keep their memory and actions alive, for years to come.

It also these echoes that drive the remaining pilots of Eva, who vow to avenge the death of their comrades and friends, and defeat Vladimir Topolov, before his dark powers echoed and deafen the world, destroying all that was good in its wake. They knew the chance of success was slim. But even with their backs against the wall, if they did not make a stand, he could destroy everything they held dear. He had already claimed the lives of thousands in his quest for power. Already their deaths will echo into the sands of time, along with many more as he continues. That is why they must fight, to end the series of echoes, to end the suffering, to end his memory.


	70. Project V Part 7: Ultimatum

A/N: Oh boy! What a reaction to the last two chapters! Well to be honest with you guys that was the reaction I wanted from you readers. I think some of you guys went a little overboard though. Hopefully I can get you guys to stay with me a little longer before you decide to call it quits with this story. Here we go!

A/O/N: A message from Marine Brother Shran to some reviewers of chapter 69: **GROW UP! Honestly, some of you guys, your behaviour is appalling! **

_Unknown Location 12 hours before the Battle of Hamburg_

"So why exactly have you brought me here?" Vladimir asked as he took in his surroundings. "What is this place?"

"You'll find out in a moment," Vladimir's master answered, as he led the boy through an unknown location. They were walking through dark corridors, for what felt like several hours. "While we're walking, let me ask you a question: Did you ever read the Bible during your times in Russia?"

"A little bit," answered Vladimir, albeit warily, confused at the question. "I know some basic information, like the story of Creation and such."

"Did you ever know that there was a story and a world before the story of Creation?"

"No I didn't," said Vladimir. "Do you know the story?"

"Indeed I do," replied the man. "It's not something God would want His people to know. There was a civilization. It consisted entirely of angels and all things glorious. It was a great and prosperous civilization. Everyone did as they pleased. We had no fighting, no war, and no conflict. It was a happy place. Ah, it was so long ago."

"But what happened?" asked, his curiosity piqued. "Obviously, something had to have happened. Otherwise we wouldn't have a heaven and a hell."

"As what usually happens with people, including divine beings, is when they have power they fear losing it. And so, they attempted to build up their power to crush any and all of those who would challenge their power."

"What happened next?" he asked, wishing to hear more.

"I, along with the four others, you knew about, came to a consensus: in order to save the society we once knew and cherished, we decided that God needed to be removed from power, by any means necessary." He paused before continuing. "But because God had caught wind of our plans, he moved quickly to stop us in our tracks. So we had to change our strategy quickly."

_Flashback – EONS AND EONS AND EONS AGO_

On one side of the world, an enormous army of angels gathered, their armour radiating a bright aura of light. Dressed in battle armour of the Middle Age, they were armed with bows and arrows, various arrays of swords and other weaponry. Scores of these holy soldiers were mounted on white horses, which bore what some would call the symbols of peace and justice. There was also a unit that appeared to consist completely of foot soldiers also clad in shining armour. In the back stood a person, concealed by a white veil and battle armour. He created mighty aura that stretched across all the land, encompassing those true to his cause.

"We knew that God used the power of light to beacon his campaign of injustice against anyone who disagreed with him. We didn't like it, but to counter the light we chose to use the power of darkness," the man went on to say. "Eventually, we amassed an army of angels ready to save the world as we once knew it.

On the other side of the world another army of angels of equal strength and power began creeping out from the shadows and darkness, bearing arms similar to that of God's men. Whereas the angels of light radiated with majesty and glorious righteousness, the other side stood opposite. These angels of darkness bore black wings over their counterpart white, and their armour gleamed with darkness adorned in blasphemy. Some were mounted on black horses, which looked as fierce as the riders riding them. In the back, a man floated in the sky as black angel wings creating an aura of darkness and despair, killing life as it touched. Cloaked in a black robe and hood and donning a black breast plate, he smiled wickedly, as he prepare for the ensuing bloodshed that would come.

Across the expanse between them, warriors stood ready to fight. Leaders stared upon one another scrutinizing them for what they stood for: one for ultimate peace and prosperity for all, the other to rule it. Those who were once great friends now stared down their weapons as enemies as they prepared for the ultimate fight of their lives. It was the battle of God's children, now warriors, against the fallen.

With a wave their arms, forces of light and dark roared a mighty roar as they charged, ready to do whatever it takes to destroy the enemy. The forces of light and darkness collided, exploding in an almighty fury of anger and righteousness. As soldiers fought, blades clashed upon one another as knights lanced through enemy lines, piercing through armour effortlessly as they fought for their cause, now skewed from the destruction of battles. Archers, their aims marked on high, released their deadly fury, raining death upon their foes. Yet as it rained striking their foes, the bolts found their mark upon their own, never knowing that they had committed friendly fire in the ensuing chaos of battle.

Clear from the chaos in the skies above, two mighty titans clashed. To the normal man it was a battle of epic proportions. Armed with only a sword, they struck, mustering all the power they had, charging head-on in a blaze of fury and power.

"Surrender the battle Lord Almighty," the dark one taunted. "You know this battle to be futile." Though unable to hear what the light one said, the dark one heard the words being spoke in his mind.

"You may believe your ideals are better than my own, but merely you've become corrupt by power. Your influence ends this day." The being of light charged again in a blaze of strikes. Defending, the dark one blocked, parried, and soon began his assault. Undaunted by the new burst of strength, the being simply backed off before executing a counter attack. Locking swords with the dark one, the two clashed in a contest of strength. Neither relenting to their foe, they pressed on, putting everything they had knowing if the other won it would be over. Sensing their equal level, they broke off, distancing themselves from one another.

The dark one spun his sword above his head as a black circle outlined in crimson appeared. Swiftly pointing his sword towards the light one, he used his power to hurtle several rings of the same shape and colour at his holy adversary.

In response, the light being raised his free hand and held it out, as an orange shield appeared, dissipating the rings upon contact. In response, the veiled man raised his sword to the sky, beginning to chant an ineligible incantation.

"What are you thinking? I know everything about you!" the dark one boasted. "If you think you can surprise me then go ahead! But in the end you will fail and you know it!" Despite his boasting, the chanting continued. Though no one else understood, he fully understood his lighted foe was saying. Yet that understanding took its toll as he hovered back, nervous of what his opponent may be doing.

"Holy Armageddon, what are you doing?" More words entered his mind, as the impulse to look down towards where the battle was ensuing overcame him. Below the holy army was in retreat; the unholy army cheering in victory. The dark being however narrowed his eyes, feeling something was amiss.

"What's going on?" he muttered. Looking at the man in light his eyes widened in fear. Beyond him, bright lights in the fear distance approached. As the lights grew so did his understanding. Horror struck, he realized he had been had. Rapidly descending the battlefield were meteors, ready to strike down unforgiving retribution upon his army while the holy army were clear of the impending destruction.

"This cannot be," he hollered. "This just cannot be!"

But nonetheless it was. Meteors rained down upon the battlefield. The army of darkness desperately struggled to retreat as they clamoured atop one another, not caring for the safety of their fellow warrior. Self-preservation was the primary thought as they fought to escape the wrath of the light. Yet it was to of no avail. Great fires of peace, freedom, justice, righteousness struck, destroying all within its range. First there was one, and then few, and then many, as the destruction continued to rain, decimating all those who opposed the light.

Fallen ones cried out in agony, as holy fire purified their souls, showing them the path of true light. Others burned to ashes in the unforgiving judgment that had been handed to them. Others sought shelter under pitiful defenses, only to have them swathed away by the strength of God. No fallen were spared, as the hand of God brought forth their ultimate judgment. Eternal damnation or benevolence befell upon all.

Although saddened to hear such agonizing cries, he knew it had to be done, lest these men of darkness continue to pollute the world with their dark taint. Maintaining his assault, he pressed on, increasing the concentration of the meteors as they continued to rain destruction and chaos upon those who deserved.

The storm continued, enveloping all that stood in its way in its unforgiving wake. So great the storm, the dark lord who had led the army of darkness fell into the holy fire. His screams of agony rang through the air, overpowering the agonizing screams of others as his soul burned, forever damned to suffer. The attack soon subsided leaving nothing but destruction and ashes, the remains of those who suffered non-existent. The land itself was decimated as the remaining fires consumed the remaining life from the land, leaving nothing but a barren wasteland.

_Back to the unknown place_

"So I am assuming you failed in your attempt to save the entire universe from its corrupted ruler," Vladimir concluded.

"Indeed we failed," the man resigned. "It was close, but close does not cut it. We were defeated on that fateful day. But we refused to be beaten. God in response destroyed the world we used to live on, and isolated himself and his followers in what they call 'Heaven'. As for us, we had nowhere to return to but to the darkness of the universe, where we plotted our next attempt at challenging God."

"What did that lead to?" Vladimir continued to inquire.

"I'll explain in a moment," the man said. "Ah, here we are." The sight Vladimir saw before him was what appeared to be a shrine. The shrine bore great resemblance to an Egyptian shrine. Carved from what seemed to be jet-black rock, it exuded an aura of darkness, permeating his very being. Illuminated by torch light, Vladimir stared at the door before him. The massive door stood before them menacingly, as shadows played across its surface, leering upon those who wished to cross its threshold. Decorated in exotic jewels, they spiraled across the surface, converging upon the center.

The chamber itself pervaded in darkness, as symbols of darkness, pain, destruction, and other such symbols he was unable to recognize. Stalactites and stalagmites clung to the roof and ground, creating a maze-like feeling as the man led him through to the center, where a dark jewel rested upon a pedestal, encrusted in raw crystals.

"Vladimir, I bring to you, the gateway to The World of Darkness!" the man in black said, his voice echoing throughout.

"The world of darkness?" Vladimir repeated, looking around the chamber.

"Yes, this is where we found the power we needed to make a stand against those who have power and do everything they can to abuse it," the man explained. "And now we have found a new tactic to challenge God at last."

"And what would that be?"

"You see, God moulded mankind who was born of Lilith in His image," explained the man. "Our new strategy is to turn His own people against him. By convincing mankind to set themselves free from His restraints, we can mass them against him, and let mankind have its own heaven, right here on Earth, where it all began so long ago!"

Vladimir had another question, "And how are we to go about doing that?"

"That, my child is to initiate Fourth Impact! We will bind humanity together, and together we'll set forth our own future, by our rules!"

"Yes. Excellent plan my lord," said Vladimir. "I like your goal, but I still do not fully understand. How will we put our plan into action?"

"The power to bond mankind together," the man answered, "lies in the power of the Angels Adam and Lilith. When merged with any other Angels, the spawns of Adam, had the power to merge mankind, spawns of Lilith, together. That was why Gendo Ikari kept Lilith and Adam deep in NERV where he had immediate access to them. God knew that we also wanted Lilith and Adam, which was why he watched as the Angels took it upon themselves to find Adam. God already saw humanity deeply in sin as is, with their bonds of 'morality' breaking away. He knew that if any Angel merged with Adam or Lilith would mean the end of mankind in the resulting Impact, and a horrendous version of Human Instrumentality. So he let the occurred events take their toll without a single thought of what would happen to some of his precious people when mankind would fight back."

"But NERV prevented that from happening. At least that's how I remembered it," Vladimir sighed. "I was… defeated not long before the 16th Angel had arrived. I heard though that Gendo Ikari was rumoured to have other plans that were not in sync with what SEELE's scenario."

"Keel was correct in suspecting Ikari was up to something. So Keel sent in the army to stop Gendo Ikari. And at the same time, trigger their form of the Human Instrumentality Project, binding humanity into a single entity, free from pain and suffering. Unfortunately, the version of 3rd Impact that occurred didn't fall into the hands of either Ikari or Keel, but placed in the hands of Ikari's son. Although close to achieving what SEELE had desired, the boy rejected Instrumentality, once again placing humanity's fate back in its own hands. Most unfortunately, Lilith was destroyed in the rejection."

"Then why do you want Unit 01?"

"Because Unit 01 is a copy of Lilith," the man explained. "The others are copies of Adams, useless to us. However, if we merge with Unit 01, we merge with Lilith, bringing forth 4th Impact that we shall control: the true Human Instrumentality Project."

"And then we rule the universe!" Vladimir finished. "No better yet, ALL planes of existence!"

"That's the spirit my child!" the man exclaimed with excitement. Lowering his tone, he changed the subject. "Now there is one thing left for you to do before I grant you my blessing."

"And what would that be?"

"A little… proof that you wish to join me in my plan to save the world from its impending doom. If I am going to grant you my power, I need absolute proof of your allegiance to me," the man said.

"And how would I go about doing that?" Vladimir wondered.

"Hold out your right hand," the man instructed. Once Vladimir obeyed, he took the boy's hand and continued. "Now I need you to swear absolutely that I am your master and you will do as I instruct you."

With a smile, Vladimir got down on one knee, with his hand held out said his oath. "I swear, on my very own life. I pledge my absolute allegiance to the one man who introduced me to the idea that there is a greater power. I pledge myself to the one who grants true knowledge in the face of the world's ignorance. I pledge myself to the one who will grant us the glory of a greater future… you."

One could see a smile on the man's face, although the upper half of his face was covered by the black hood. "Good. Good work my child. You have taken your first step towards discovering the truth." He then clasped his hand around Vladimir's hand. A black aura surrounded his hand as he began to chant an incantation.

Not knowing what to expect, he felt his body start to violently contort in pain, as power surged through his very being, imbuing him with power he had never thought possible. His muscles strengthened, he felt all excess weight disappear as his body reshaped itself into perfection. He felt his mind grow as new knowledge filled him, showing him the ways to use his power to its fullest extent, as the power within continued to grow and grow. Despite the pain he smiled throughout, knowing it was a small price to pay to elevate his strength.

"There, all done," said the man as he released Vladimir's hand. "Gaze upon the mark I left on your hand. This mark proves your loyalty to me and my cause for peace and justice."

Looking at his hand, Vladimir was somewhat surprised at what he saw. A mark was grafted onto his hand, like some tattoo or scar. The mark was of three sixes in the shape of a triangle. Two of the sixes were black, while one glowed with a dull red colour.

Flexing his hand, he already felt power flowing through it. "Ah, this power feels good indeed."

"It should," the man chuckled. "Now you should have no problem at all when piloting Unit 10. I know you've managed to get your sync ratio up and around the seventies. But with the power of darkness flowing through you now, you will have the capability to achieve a guaranteed 100 sync. And you now have the ability to pass through the gateway into the eternal darkness through here."

"Good, so when the time comes, I will be at my utmost best for when it comes time to challenge the mettle of Gendo Ikari's EVA pilots." Vladimir did have one question though as he continued to gaze at the mark crafted on his hand. "But what about the other sixes? Why aren't they glowing too?"

"Oh use that as in indication of how much your power has grown. As your power grows, the other sixes will light up. And as they light up, your sync with your Evangelion will grow as well. You will one day as your power grows, go beyond 100 and use that power to set the beast within free and bind it to your will." He motioned towards the way we came. "Come now, let us leave. We have a battle to win. We attack Hamburg within twelve hours."

End Flashback

???? - ???? Miles away from Canada.

"Where am I?" a girl moaned as she struggled to sit up. Rubbing her aching head, her eyes fluttered opened as her sapphire eyes slowly brought her world back into focus. Looking around, she suddenly winces and shuts her eyes again as the light of her surroundings suddenly blinded her. Waiting to let the shock pass, she slowly opened her eyes and looked about in an attempt to determine her surroundings. Unable to determine where she was, she decided to assess herself. Looking down at herself, she saw she was still wearing her plug suit, but now her mind wondered what she was the last thing she was doing. Wracking her brain, she suddenly remembered she was fighting Vladimir Topolov before passing out.

"Oh my god!" she shrieked, feeling the area where she, or rather her EVA, had been slashed, to realize there was no pain from the injury, or even marks of such. "Okay Asuka, calm down, look around, and figure out where the heck you are." Taking a few deep breaths, she slowly brought her breathing down to a normal pace, before beginning to assess her surroundings. Looking around, she realized she was in what felt like an endless field of clouds. Her mind immediately began to scrutinize her surroundings, wondering how could there be such a field of clouds, and how the clouds could support her weight.

"Where am I?" she asked herself. "Where is everyone?" She sighed as she realized that wherever she was, she was all alone. "Where are you Shinji...?"

Suddenly as if in response to her loneliness, she heard what sounded like people somewhere in the distance. Hoping it was some civilization, she took off towards the sound, hoping she could find someone who could tell her where she was and how she might be able to find her way home. She felt like she was running forever, but the sounds she was hearing were getting stronger. Within a few minutes, she arrived at what appeared to be a massive fortress overlooking the land. The cities it guarded seemed to stretch for miles without end.

"Now this is weird," Asuka muttered. "Some strange castle in some strange cloud land. Just like in some old fairy tale you tell to little kids." Unable to see beyond must of the castle, walking to it seemed like the best idea, where she hoped she could find the answers she sought: find out where she was and how she might get back to Germany. Near the castle gates, she discovered that the castle itself was surrounded by a wall, to her utter shock and surprise, made entirely out of clouds. And to top it off, there was this shiny pearl coloured gate in the middle, which appeared to be only the way into the castle. As much as Asuka wanted to get into the castle there was another problem: a line-up of what appeared to be several hundred people, wanting to get into the castle.

"Well I guess I had better get in line. No sense in wasting any more time then I'm already wasting. Humph!" And so our favourite redhead walked down and got in line, like a good, patient little girl.

Some time passed as she continued to wait. To her utter boredom there was nothing to do except wait and slowly trudge forward as people were accepted one at a time. It drove her insane to the point she wanted to pull her hair out, when a thought came to her. Perhaps a few of these people knew what this place was and could possibly give her some information on what was going on.

She spoke to the first person in front of her. "Excuse me, sir," she said.

The person turned around to reveal a man who appeared to be at least in his eighties. "Ah, do you have a question child?" the man asked with a kind tone in his voice.

"Uh…" Asuka was at a slight loss of words, but quickly collected herself. "Do you know what this place is called?" she asked. "I was in a country called Germany before, but somehow I ended up here, and now I'm completely lost."

"You don't know where you are?" the elderly man asked, surprised by the question. "This is where all people go when their time has come. Unfortunately your time must have come as well. So tragic, and at your age too."

"My time?" replied a confused Asuka. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't you know?" the old man asked her back as the line moved closer. "Those up ahead are the pearly gates, which guard the way into heaven. This is where all people go when they die."

"Die? I'm not dead!" Asuka angrily countered. "I'm alive! And just somewhat lost!"

The man asked another question, "Haven't you noticed the halo on everyone's head?" He pointed to the gold ring above his head. "Every human being who has died has a halo. You have one too." Asuka craned her neck to look up as straight as she could. She couldn't see it fortunately: the halo was on a fixed position above her head, therefore moved with her instead of just hovering.

"I don't see any gold ring or anything! You must've lost your mind a few miles back!" Just then as she brought her head back down, her eyes saw a mirror off to the side of the processing line, as it continued to move forward. To her utter horror, staring back at her was her, with a halo above her head.

"Oh my god…" she whimpered, "it can't be. I can't be dead." Tears began to form in her eyes as the realization began to slowly sink in. No matter how much she denied the fact, it was there in plain sight: she was dead. Extremely emotionally distraught, she screamed an agonizing scream, releasing all the pain and anguish within, that shook the very foundations of heaven and hell.

"The heck was that?" one of the locals asked.

"Just another person realizing they're dead," another shrugged off.

-----------------------------

NERV Berlin

The situation continued to grow dire, as the Russian army continued expanding at an alarming rate. The source of their growing army remained a mystery. As Misato read the reports, she learned Russia was preparing to possibly expand their incursions into the surrounding countries: Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Belgium. But their primary objective remained: capture Berlin, eliminating the greatest threat to their conquest. But with the deaths of Shinji Ikari and Asuka Sohryu, the threat to the Russians diminished, resulting in the decreased speed of the Russian advance. With the two most powerful pilots aside, the remaining pilots were of no consequence.

Misato sighed as she looked at the clock on the office wall. The funeral procession was going to begin soon, which was the reason why Misato was currently dressed in her dress uniform, the same one she wore during the testing of the JA. Commander Henkel said they should have a small military funeral here, before Shinji and Asuka's bodies were sent to Japan. Henkel said that since Misato was their legal guardian, she had the authority as to what was to be done with Asuka's body. She figured that Asuka would want to stay with her boyfriend, so they were both going to be returned to Japan for a state funeral: if they could be flown back to Germany, as Russia also had a grip on the eastern border, and was slowly advancing.

With the situation reaching absolute danger levels, Zack had taken upon himself to prepare Elly and Rei for the monster Topolov. Although during the rescue mission they had witnessed Topolov's power, they had yet to witness his true power first hand: the power he used to quickly kill two children and severely wound another. She sighed sadly as she wondered if they were ready for a second encounter. Misato knew without a doubt in her mind that Zack would love nothing more than to challenge Vladimir to get vengeance for what the Russian had done. She knew Zack could take care of himself fairly well.

But new concerns were that Elly and Rei were in no way, shape or form to face him, and if Zack had the state of mind needed to properly challenge the black beast and its evil rider. Although trained, they never had any real formal training to pilot Evangelions at the level the situation seemed to demand. She didn't know if they could survive a second encounter: Elly's inexperience that showed against the last Black Angel, Rei's recent return to the battlefield since being stricken with Angel Rejection Syndrome, Ivana with her serious injuries which have probably rendered her unable to pilot Unit 02 in Asuka's place, especially Unit 04 had been too seriously damaged, and Zack's weakened abilities to pilot rationally.

Once more, the world had done something it should never have to do: send children to fight a war with the world at stake. Since the arrival of the angels, it had been children who fought. Children, who had been deprived of their childhood, fight for the old men and women, who mastermind their plans behind the fronts of peace and justice. Masterminds who merely raised hands and gave orders, telling the children to go out and commit horrible acts of violence and carnage, as the Evangelions they piloted, at the will of their superiors were to, seek out and destroyed, by any means necessary, any living thing that threatened their existence. And this time, the very threat they had to destroy was yet another child who was about their age, who had been corrupted by rage and had the bloodlust of a madman. Shinji and Asuka were never truly prepared for the monster Russia unleashed and as a result they paid the ultimate price.

Misato clenched her fist. They were nothing but teenagers who didn't deserve such a life. Right now they should be at home with their families, enjoying what precious time they had before reaching adulthood. But the Evangelions, machines build by mankind, required a child who could interface with the core of an Evangelion: a mother's soul. Cursing those who made the Evangelions that way, she knew putting children onto the battlefield was wrong. Killing was something an adult should face, not teenagers. But since the first real Angel attack, they had been forced to grow up too quickly, unable to slowly learn the pains of life and find ways to deal with it. Shoved into a world of pain and anguish, the fights destroyed them, leaving shells of the children they once were, replacing the contents with distorted adults, unable to distinguish their left to their right. Although they acted like teenagers, she knew they were hurting inside, trying to cope with the pain, taking solace in one another. Shinji, Asuka, Rei shared a family bond, Zack and Elly had each other, Ivana had everyone as the little siblings she never had, and Toji and Hikari also had each other. But yet they still depended on each other one way or another. But with Shinji and Asuka gone, the chain seemed smaller, weakened from the lost links. Yet despite the weakened link, they persevered. Taking it upon themselves, Zack and Ivana set about to prepare and strengthen Elly and Rei, for the inevitable rematch that would occur.

However, if a rematch were to occur it would only be Zack, Elly, and Rei who would be fighting, as Ivana was in no position to be back on the battlefield confined to wearing crutches to get around. Doctors had continuously worked treating and conditioning Ivana, using various methods such oxygen rejuvenation procedures for her bone fractures, and pain killers for her burns and muscle tears. However it was unlikely she would be ready on time.

Her musings came to an end as an officer entered her office. "Major Katsuragi it's time." Nodding in response, Misato wiped the few tears that had been graced her cheeks before getting up and followed the officer out.

-------------------------------------------------

Heaven????

Realizing now that she was dead, Asuka had a bad feeling about what awaited her as the line moved forward; her impending judgment. She knew she hadn't been the best person for most of her life, but she figured that she could blame it on the fact that her mother died and that had completely altered the way her life should have been. But then again, after 3rd Impact her life had begun to change for the better. She had generally become a nicer person over the past many months. Hopefully her turnaround in life could convince whatever was on this plane of existence that she was indeed a good person deep down under all that pain, sadness, anger, and hatred.

There were still two people in front of her, including that elderly man who told her about her apparent situation when she arrived here. Her fate was soon at hand. What really boggled her though was that there was no sign of Shinji anywhere unless he had already met his judgment for better or for worse. But now her attention was turned to the second person in front of her, who was now facing his fate. It was a man in his mid to late forties who stood before a man who might have looked anywhere from seventy to ninety, at least judging by his hair. He was sitting at a desk with a rather large book in front of him.

The older man spoke, "So you're Nelson Barrett, 43 years old and spent your entire life in Denver, Colorado. Am I right?"

The younger man was slightly nervous but kept his composure. "Yeah, that's right. Who the hell are you?" he growled at the older man.

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you," the older man replied. "I am St. Peter, and I will be deciding if you are to pass through those gates or not." He looked at the book. "Oh my, mercy me. The life you have led is… abhorrent by our standards. During your teenage years, you've been deviant in the eyes of your parents, dropped out of school, and gotten involved in gang activities. You've spent most of your life in and out of prison, at one point spending six years in prison for repeated assaults on your girlfriend. And when you got out of jail you tracked her down with the intent of killing her, only she killed you first."

"That bitch ruined my life," the younger man grumbled. "I was gonna fuck her up once and for all, so she knew how it felt to ruin someone's life by wrecking her fucking world!"

"That is enough out of you," St. Peter snapped. "You apparently show that you have no regard for anyone else, and only reveling in your own pleasure. And so I have no problem casting the required judgment on you. An eternity in Hell!" With a snap of his finger, the cloud-like floor underneath the man disappeared, opening a portal to some void that had red and black clouds coming out of it. The man fell, his scream echoing as he fell down until he could be heard no longer.

Asuka jumped a bit at the event that just took place. 'That guy just got sent to hell… oh fuck what am I gonna do?' She quivered at the thought of being sent to hell. She was just a young woman, not even a quarter of a way through her life before her life was taken from her by a madman. 'I hope they'll understand my story.'

"Nervous child?" the elderly man in front of her asked. He gave her a smile. "I can feel your thoughts, and they are indeed troubled. Care to share what's on your mind? Talking about your problems to someone can make you feel better."

"Well… I haven't been the best person all my left," Asuka trembled as she tried to fight back her tears. "I was just starting to get my life in order when I… died."

The man put a hand on Asuka's shoulder. "Do not fret for the things you have done in the past, for I feel that you still have much to accomplish and much chance to make up for any wrongdoings."

This took Asuka by surprise. "Much to accomplish? But I'm dead! Anything I could have accomplished is now gone! Life after EVA… marriage... children with that idiot who died on me… what can I accomplish now?" Tears began to form in her eyes.

"That I do not know, but rest assured that there is still something left in you. I guarantee it."

"Really?" Asuka asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'd stake my soul on it," the man said. "And I would never lie to someone too. I promise you, your story… whatever it may hold in store for you, is not over yet."

"Thank you," Asuka said with a smile on her face. "Can I get your name please? I want to remember who you are once I meet my judgment."

"You may call me Wang," he said. He heard one of the guards call him forward, "Now I guess it's my time to see what the Lord has in store for me." And with that, he walked forward to see if St. Peter would admit him into heaven.

Asuka took this time to think on what she had been told. Her story not being over? That didn't make any sense at all. She was dead as far as she was concerned. In her mind, Vladimir Topolov had pretty much ripped out any other pages that were still remaining in her story. So what did Asuka Langley Sohryu have left in her story? Well hopefully time would soon tell that story, and she hoped the hunch of an elderly man was true. Otherwise instead of climbing the stairway to Heaven she may as well be on a highway to Hell.

"Would you please come forward ma'am," the guard called out to Asuka. Asuka looked up just to see that the elderly man had walked through the Pearly Gates before it closed. So now Asuka walked forward, uncertain of what her fate would have in store for her. She now stood before St. Peter. "Uh… hi."

"Hello to you too ma'am," St. Peter replied. "Let's see who you are." He flipped through a few pages in his book, until he found the page he was looking for. "Ah, here we are. You're Asuka Langley Sohryu correct?"

"Uh yes."

"Ah, this is quite the interesting file we have here on you." St. Peter read further, "You had a rough childhood, when your mother went insane as a result of using forbidden technology."

"Technology we had to use because you sent seventeen of your homeboys to try and wipe us out!" Asuka shot back. "We weren't about to let the lives we've been given go to waste! You guys forced us to lay the holy smack down!"

"Calm down, you obviously don't know the whole story," St. Peter tried to calm Asuka down.

"What whole story?" Asuka yelled. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"

"Miss Sohryu, calm down! Or I'll send you to hell right now!" St. Peter barked at her. Once he got her silence, he read on. "Instead of trying to reach out to the people around you who wanted to help you as they saw your peril, you pushed everyone away and become a lonely angry girl who tried to grow up too fast." He paused a moment before reading on, "After the event mankind refers to as Third Impact, you however began to change your life for the better, choosing to fight for those other than yourself and whatever ambitions you held. As for your spiritual beliefs, with all the events that took place in your life, you have never been sure of what to believe in, so as you justify your thoughts. And then on the battlefield, you were killed in action avenging the death of your loved one Shinji Ikari."

"So now what?" asked Asuka quietly. "Am I destined for hell?"

"Hmm," St. Peter read further. "And yes as my judgment you have already discovered is, you are hereby condemned to Hell for eternity for your anger, your failure to acknowledge the transcended, and lack of compassion towards those that cared about you."

Asuka felt sick inside. She was doomed, and there would be no saving her this time, from whatever horrors went on down in that dark void below. She could sense it preparing to swallow her up and trap her in everlasting darkness and despair. She began to feel something creep up her legs. She looked down but although she couldn't see anything, she could tell that the horrors of hell were coming to claim her. 'I guess this is the end,' she sighed to herself. But to her shock, as it had begun to creep up on her, it began to subside as quickly as it had begun to overtake her as if something was expelling the darkness from within her.

"What's this?" St. Peter wondered, taking noticed that the portal to Hell did not open. "The darkness isn't swallowing your soul up as it should. This is most peculiar indeed. Perhaps I must've missed something." He looked back into the Book of Life and was surprised by what he read. "It appears that by a request from a power above me, that although you would be destined for the darkness below that you are to be admitted you into heaven."

"Really?" asked Asuka curiously. "I'm going to Heaven after all?" Her face began to lighten up. She reveled within at the relief of being saved from the shadows below.

"It says here that you are to be admitted. And as such, my judgment on you is overruled. You may enter Asuka Langley Sohryu." As he finished his sentence, the Pearly Gates opened, emitting a light that was although bright, but did not feel blinding at all to Asuka.

'That's bizarre,' thought Asuka. 'I guess that old man was right. My story isn't over yet, whatever it may be. I gotta admit though that this was quite a scare. Almost as scary as being rendered helpless against those EVA bastards before 3rd Impact.' And with that, she walked into the light and grace of whatever awaited her. 'If Shinji knows what's good for him, then he'd better be in here somewhere, otherwise if I have to drag that idiot out of Hell, Hell will be like a vacation in paradise when I'm through with him.'

As she continued to walk, she saw a figure standing out in the light. As Asuka walked closer towards the figure the bright light began to subside. The figure once she finally saw it took the form of a boy, slightly taller than Shinji. He had grey silver hair pale skin, a welcoming smile, a gold ring above his head and… red eyes. Red eyes that reminded her of… Wondergirl's?

"Ah, Miss Sohryu, we've been expecting you," the boy said. "Welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven."

"You've been expecting me?" asked Asuka. "What's going on here?"

"A lot has been going on," the boy replied. "But first let me introduce myself. I am Tabris, the last of the seventeen messengers, or as you call them Angels. But I believe I am better known as Kaowru Nagisa."

"You're one of those Angels?" Asuka was in shock. "You and your band of holy horrors tried to kill us!" Her hands clenched into fists, the memory of the one who had replaced her earlier came to mind "And YOU'RE the one who stole my precious Unit 02 and forced that idiot… or rather my dead boyfriend to smash it!"

"I am sorry for any trouble I caused," Kaowru stated in his defense. "I was merely doing what my mission required of me. However, I saw the good that mankind was and therefore I deliberately failed my mission to save mankind."

"SURE," Asuka shot back in a sarcastic tone. "And Gendo Ikari is a loving, caring family man."

"Well he was before the accident with Evangelion Unit 01."

"That's not my point!" Asuka was losing her cool. "Now what's going on here? I know something's going on here and I demand to know what!"

"I understand," Kaowru said with his tone not at all changing. "You have a right to know what is going on here. I was the one who overruled your judgment." When Kaowru finished his sentence, this shut Asuka right up as she realized she was losing her cool with the one being that had saved her soul from an eternity in hell. "For a long time, the divine beings have an unwritten agreement not to meddle directly in human affairs. But those that lurk in the shadows have broken this agreement and are now using their influence and power in an attempt to control the world. So we from the light must directly intervene if mankind is to survive."

"So what does that have to do with me?" asked Asuka who was still somewhat confused by all this. This was still a lot for her to deal with.

"I will explain all of that in due time. But first let me bring out someone. Someone who is anxious to meet you."

"Who wants to meet me?" wondered Asuka. "Maybe the stories of my adventures have reached even beyond the gates of Heaven." She tried not to snicker at the thought of her fame stretching beyond the gates of life.

"I know I'm glad to see you again, and I know your stories firsthand Asuka," said a familiar voice.

"Huh? Who was that?" Asuka turned in the direction of the voice to see its owner. Her jaw dropped when she saw the person behind the voice. "Oh my god…"

"Hey Asuka." It was Shinji. "So you made it here too." He was also in his Unit 01 plugsuit and like Asuka he had a gold ring above his head which meant he was also dead. "I'm sort of confused by this myself…"

"YOU IDIOT!" Asuka interrupted as she ran towards. She quickly wrapped her arms around her dead boyfriend and gripped him so tightly that he might have died if he wasn't already dead. She then abruptly slapped him. "How could you die on me like that?" she choked through her tears. "You left me all alone!"

"I'm sorry Asuka. He was just…"

"Shut up!" Asuka commanded. "Just shut up and hold me!" And as usual with Shinji in his role as Beta Male, did as his dead girlfriend commanded and just held her. It felt good to know that she was okay… or rather as okay as a dead teenager could be.

"Well now that you two have reunited, there is much to be done," said Kaowru interrupting their reunion.

"What do you mean?" asked Shinji.

"As I said, there is much to be done. You two will need to be prepared if you're going to be successful in your rematch with Vladimir Topolov."

"Rematch? What rematch?" Asuka inquired.

"Obviously you don't understand." Kaowru elaborated further. "If you're going to be able to defeat Topolov, you need to be prepared so you can match and overcome him. This is what we're going to do during our stay here. Lilith and I will be training you two so you'll have the power you need to save the world."

"Lilith?" Shinji and Asuka said in unison.

Next to Kaowru, another figure faded into existence. This time the figure was a girl who reminded them both of Rei. However this girl had silver hair instead of azure hair that Rei used to have. "Greetings Ikari and Sohryu. I am Lilith, the Second Messenger. And I will be assisting Tabris with your preparations for your battle. Your bodies, minds, and souls will need to be trained so the power you need to save the world shall be yours to command."

'Great,' Asuka muttered to herself. 'Being trained by Fruityboy and Wondergirl Wannabe. What else does this day have in store for us?'

'So I guess we have to keep fighting,' thought Shinji. 'Even though we're dead, we don't get to rest in peace. But then again if we don't stop Topolov, more people like Misato, Ayanami, Zack, Simpson, and Kharlamov will eventually end up here as he will likely try to kill them all. Well I guess we'd better listen.'

--------------------------------

Unknown Location

"So this device allows me to connect to the world," Vladimir stated as he observed the technological sight before him. His master had led him into the gateway to the world of darkness when Vladimir had asked to be able to broadcast a call for a global surrender of the world. And as of now he appeared to be in a computer room, with many devices which could probably perform various functions. There were also many screens which Vladimir assumed was what he could use to look at several screens of information without having to flip through multiple windows of a Windows program.

"Well it can," the hooded man better known as Vladimir's master replied, "but we've never required the use of communicating with the world. Do you have a good grasp on the English language?"

"Yes I do Master," said Vladimir. "I'll make my message quite simple yet forceful. Forceful enough to terrify the entire world."

"Good my child, good." He motioned to the chair. "Make yourself comfortable, and make everyone else terrified."

"I intend to Master." Vladimir sat in the chair. "So how do I turn this on?" he asked, not understanding the controls.

"Ha ha," the man chuckled. "Well I don't expect you to right away to understand our technology right away." He waved his hand and the computer turned on. "Just activate the global broadcast program and your message will be sent worldwide. You'll have the honour of being the first to use this program as we have preferred to conduct our operations from the shadows. But I think this shall be okay as they think you are the one behind everything and not myself."

"Okay, I think I can get the hang of this." Vladimir worked with the controls until he got the program he got working. "Ah here we go. And now, to get the message across." He clicked the button he wanted and the computer did its work for him.

In many places around the world, many television stations currently broadcasting their respective channels found themselves being jammed with no explanation for it. The channels were surprising being replaced with the image of a young boy wearing a military uniform sitting in a large leather chair. He had his hands folded in front of him, and was wearing a black leather glove on his right hand.

The ones who's attention he had definitely had were those of Misato, Commander Joachim Henkel, and Dr. Akagi as Vladimir had interrupted their meeting by somehow accessing a visual screen through unknown means.

"_I am very aware that your current broadcasting has been interrupted. There is no sense in changing the channel since I have taken control of every available channel," _the boy said in a Russian accent. _"I am the one known as Vladimir Topolov. I am the one who is spearheading the Soviet attack on the continent of Europe, primarily on the country of Germany. But as you have noticed, my army is expanding into the rest of Europe as we desire to take over the entire world to establish our new world order where I and my ideals shall reign supreme."_

In the training room, the four pilots Zack Harper, Ivana Kharlamov, Elly Simpson, and Rei Ayanami saw this strange broadcast on a visual screen as well. As she watched, Ivana noticed something was a bit different about her ex-boyfriend. His facial features had changed slightly. Vladimir's face was looking a little pale as if he was sick. But that didn't make sense as in the past Vladimir had amazing health despite the cold of Russia. And his usual brown hair was slowing fading to a grayish colour. And even creepier was that his eye colour was beginning to change as well. His once dancing blue eyes were beginning to fade out, as if the very life force in his body was leaving him to rot. He may have been able to pass for forty-five if not fifteen. It was almost as if his face symbolized the rotting of his soul and the person he once was. 'What in the world is happening to you? What have you done now?' she wondered.

"_Germany has dared to make the foolish attempt to try and stop me and I broke the back of their resistance. And I shall do the same to anyone else who resists my desire to change the world. I will be temporarily halting my advances, to give the rest of the world a chance to consider their choices. For this decision concerns all of you as nobody will be left out of the new world order. So I say to you, the world, you have seven days to make this choice: **Surrender… or die**."_


	71. Project V Part 8: Accepting the Past

A/N: Here we are again for Part 8 of the Project V Saga. So let's get brought up to speed shall we? Shinji and Asuka, who were both killed in the Battle of Hamburg, find themselves preparing for what seems like an inevitable rematch with the Russian Reaper, Vladimir Topolov. What training do the divine beings of God have in store for our heroes?

A/O/N: Chapter not pre-read. Bear with me.

"So how exactly are we going to train?" Asuka asked of the two Angels standing before her and Shinji. "We gonna do combat training or something? What exactly can you teach us that some old man in a dojo can't teach us?"

"We do not intend to teach you anything," Lilith answered. "You already have what you need physically for your impending battle."

"Rather, we desire to train your souls rather than your bodies," Kaowru put in. "Spiritual strength and cleansing of the soul is just as strong as any powerful body. Your adversary, Vladimir Topolov seeks to increase his power through making himself physically more powerful. However, his soul is slowly rotting away and eventually there will be nothing left of him. It will be up to you to be ready to exploit that flaw."

Shinji was also full of questions. "So how are we going to have our souls trained? How do you train a soul exactly?"

"That cannot be explained in mere words," said Lilith. "It is something you have to experience for yourself, and how you handle the situations life gives you that make your soul what it is, be it pure or tainted."

Shinji asked once more, "So how will we go about doing that?"

"Just relax, and be ready for your trials begin now," Kaowru replied. From behind the two Angels, came a large flash of light which appeared to engulf the entire stretch of land they were all on. Shinji and Asuka couldn't see anything, as they seemed to be blinded by the holy radiance stretching across the glorious kingdom of Heaven.

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Useless… err United Nations Emergency Conference – London, England (Thanks nick2951)

Many people of many different worlds had gathered here. These people, although stemming from different cultures, backgrounds, and various histories. But all these people who had gathered at this emergency meeting in London, England had one thing in mind: Russia's military aggression and the chaos it has been causing all around the world. The objective of the meeting was as a united people to find a solution as how to stop Russia before it single-handedly destroyed the world. And thus, the UN Security Council sought to find a solution.

The ambassador from the United States spoke first. He was a pale skinned man in his late forties to early fifties. "We must ignore the ultimatum set out by the Russian aggressors and stop them now before they spread their evil to the world," the American spoke to the large assembly of ambassadors. "This is merely what the former leaders of the Soviet Union desired to do but didn't dare to do. And now that they have a pilot who is borderline psychotic with an Evangelion of all things at the wheel of their military force, they will annex the entire world if not stopped! We cannot surrender to President Vasilev."

The representative from Spain then took the floor. Spain was represented by a dark haired woman who was concerned about the amount of casualties "But how will we with our conventional weapons be able to defeat the Evangelions? The Evangelions were the only weapons capable of defeating the Angels. We will just be sending our men and women to the slaughter!"

The thin older man from France sought a different approach to the conflict. "Do we not understand as a modern and peace-seeking world that violence will only lead to more violence and destruction?" he demanded of the council to ponder. "Russia for decades has been deprived of economic prosperity because of the way they have been forced to live. It is only natural for them to claw at what they desire." He beckoned with the Security Council, "If we approach them with an offer of peace and the promise of non-violence, they will be compelled to act in a similar fashion. We are human beings, not monsters! If we fight, then when is all said and done, there may be nothing left of us!"

Commander J.C. Moorehead of NERV London was also there, as he was the one who called this emergency meeting. He knew damn well the power that the world was put up against. It reminded him of how his forefathers long ago had stared down dark forces who had threatened the stability of the free world. Now it was his turn to speak up. "Do we forget the lessons our forefathers had to learn the hard way in World War II?" he asked the assembly. "Do you not understand that power hungry dictators cannot be appeased? Valisev will never be satisfied until he has everything within his grasp! We must make a stand at all costs! There is no room for negotiation!"

This brought a round of applause from many of the other ambassadors in the room. Unfortunately they still appeared to be somewhat in division. Some had expressed concern about the amount of casualties; others had expressed the desire to give peace the chance it deserved. Once the applause died down, the young female speaker who represented Canada had her say.

"We as a united body must confront and put an end to anything that threatens the current existence," she stated, "I'm sure many of you have heard the reports of the atrocities that have been taking place in occupied countries such as Poland, Sweden, Denmark and other nearby countries neighbouring Russia." She then elaborated, "To be more specific, entire populations of innocent civilians have been enslaved by this rapidly growing army. Men are being forced into labour camps that are similar to concentration camps in World War II. And women and even young girls are forced into becoming sex slaves for soldiers when they're not on duty. The elderly and disabled are being killed off as if they were diseased animals. If we as the world government do not act quickly against this expansion, a mass genocide will be the least of our problems that we as a united body will have on our hands."

The debate seemed to rage on for hours, the world appeared divided on whether they should bow to a smaller yet stronger army, or use the massed numbers to make a stand against President Boris Valisev's army and against all odds save an already ravaged world. Gendo Ikari was watching this debate from a video screen and was taking an active role in this debate as his role of Supreme Commander of NERV. He seized the moment and spoke to the divided council. "We here at NERV are ready to take any measures necessary to combat the rogue pilot of Evangelion Unit 10. We will do everything we can to stop it."

"How do you propose to do that Commander Ikari?" the younger man from China wished to know. "Four of your 'best' pilots were sent to Germany specifically to stop Unit 10, and they all failed miserably! What more do you intend to do? Send the rest of your band of poorly trained pilots to their deaths?"

"You underestimate the resolve of the remaining pilots," Gendo countered the ambassador from China. "They are more than ready to do everything they can to stop Unit 10. We have learned much about the Russian tactics and we will be ready for the next time the Evangelions engage in combat." Unfortunately for Gendo, he didn't have much to stand on in terms of the credibility of his pilots. Pilots Ikari and Sohryu were killed by Unit 10, Kharlamov was seriously injured, and according to psychological reports on Harper, he had suffered a great deal of mental trauma, as he seemed hell bent on preparing himself and the backup pilots Simpson and Ayanami for the impending rematch, depriving himself of much needed rest. Simpson also was not very experienced in up-close combat as the 6th Black Angel had shown, and Gendo was concerned that Rei would be combat ready in time as she was thrust back into Unit 00's pilot role.

Unfortunately, China's ambassador wasn't done with Gendo yet. "You say that Commander, but have you actually been paying attention to the reports going around? The morale over there is shattered since the Battle of Hamburg. Shattered! That includes the children your organization babysits! How do you expect the council to believe your pilots can destroy Unit 10?"

"Because all we have left is to believe," Commander Joachim Henkel who was also watching live via video interjected. "We do not have much more than that. And I do not wish to see Germany occupied by invaders from foreign lands. The people of Germany have spent several decades struggling to reclaim our identity after two terrible wars, and we are not about to let Russia take away what little we still have of our pride to be Germans. Regardless of the world's decision whether to surrender or fight, we will fight to the last man if we have to." He cleared his throat before going on. "And as for the children, they have already seen many things they should have not yet seen before they've reached adolescence. But nonetheless, they are showing an incredible resolve in the face of evil. And I'm sure that same resolve will be shown when they have to take to the battle field once more."

The American seized his chance to put in two more cents. "The United States will not allow **evildoers** to seize and hold the world hostage. We are ready to face this threat wherever it may come from. Whatever is destroyed can always be rebuilt. We as a nation must be prepared to do whatever it takes to destroy our enemies."

"So you all still insist on meeting violence with more violence!" charged France's ambassador. "Where will it stop Commander Henkel? Will you insist on dropping N2 mines on the enemies if all else fails? Will you ask the Americans to send nuclear weapons? Your blind approach to this matter will result in horrible bloodshed for everyone, including the innocents!"

"Has the Security Council already forgotten what we are up against?" Commander Moorehead put in. "That the monstrosities currently running the Russian government don't care whether we surrender or fight? That our doing nothing so far has already amounted in massive bloodshed for the victims of occupied countries?" He then boldly faced the ambassador of France. "You on the other hand are the blind one here. You seek to make peace with someone who doesn't give a damn whether you are alive or lying in a pool of blood. That being you wish to make peace with wants to see you dead. I say we as humans who value life must do all we can to stop that, that wishes to continue to take lives. This force feeds on the deaths of others, and as it knows it can kill en masse, its power will continue to grow!"

'_You have no idea Commander Moorehead,'_ a person who was in a black trench coat and head covering standing way off to the side away from the center of the debate, out of everyone's eyesight and mind had thought, _'you have no idea how close you came to defining how my child Vladimir's power grows. It's quite humourous to watch you fools debate over a simple matter of life or death. You know what the right decision is, but question if you can handle the ramifications of that decision.'_

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Asuka felt like she was right back where she started when this whole mess of being dead began. Once Tabris and Lilith had blinded her and Shinji with that large flash of light she wasn't able to see anything for what felt like several minutes. Once her sight had returned to her, she had found herself all alone again. "This sucks," she grumbled pacing off somewhere aimlessly. "I have no clue what being out here in the middle of nowhere has to do with training the soul."

_Patience young one, all in due time…_

"Huh?" Asuka heard something but couldn't tell where it was coming from. Looking all around her, she saw no indication of where the voice had just come from. Her failure to find anything left the redhead even more frustrated. "Great, now I think I'm going crazy. First off I somehow died and ended up here. Next I get told I have to train my soul. NOW, I'm out in the middle of who knows where, and now I'm hearing things! How does this get any worse?"

"Oh it can get a lot worse Child," a flat toned voice called out. "Knowing you, it can get a lot worse."

Quickly, Asuka snapped around to where she figured the voice had to come from. And there was the source of the voice. It belonged to what appeared to be a human figure, clad completely in black clothing. It was wearing a black coat with a hood covering all except its nose and mouth. "There you are!" Asuka snapped. "What's the big idea acting all weird and such?"

"The idea… is you," the black figure responded, his tone staying flat. "It's remarkable knowing all that has happened to you that you haven't gone and lost your mind. Or so I would think."

"What are you talking about?" Asuka raised her voice. "I demand to know what in hell makes you think I've lost my mind."

"So easily you forget… or so you would presume. You've mastered it quite well, burying memories of days long forgotten. Days that tend to stick out in your mind forever, yet you go on as if it never happened."

Asuka began to well up with anger. This mysterious being was right in a sense. Thoughts about the past were beginning to take form in her mind. Thoughts about her mother, her battles during the First Angel War were leaking out from within the archives of Asuka's mind. Asuka was trying her best to suppress her sub-conscious thoughts and focus on the here and now, which was how to deal with this… thing that happened to have a poor sense of fashion who was trying to pry her brain open. "Okay, what's your beef with me anyway?" she asked calmly, trying to keep herself stable and clear minded.

"Everything about you," the figure responded. "Who you are, who you were… and who you will end up being once I am through with you. It's time you took a small trip into the past Asuka Sohryu." He waved his hand through the air, and to Asuka's surprise black smoke began to creep up all over the place.

Asuka quickly began to feel nauseous from the smoke that the mysterious figure had somehow called upon. Not only did the smoke terribly assault her senses with its nauseating smell, she felt herself begin like the fumes were suffocating her. Not long after, she gave in the fumes, and collapsed to the ground.

After what felt like an eternity, Asuka felt herself begin to awaken to behold the new sight that had cast itself before her. To her, it looked like a rather large computer room that overlooked to what Asuka assumed was some large test room. From Asuka's point of view, everything seemed like they had super sized, including the computers and the people operating them. As the images slowly melded their way into Asuka's memory banks, they retrieved old memories from Asuka's mind. _The day her mother first tried to activate Unit 02!_

"No way," Asuka whimpered. "This can't be. No I don't want to see this again! Stop it! Make it stop!" But it was to no avail. As her pleas went unnoticed, even by childlike self everything commenced just like that day so many years ago. An initial preparation to make sure Unit 02 was suitable for reactivation, releasing of all restraints on Unit 02, entry of the plug into Unit 02. It was going just as she remembered it. And all this time, Asuka was forced to watch through her younger self's eyes as a younger Commander Henkel ordered his staff to activate Unit 02 for the first time. In perfect resemblance with the events of the past, the technicians at first began the startup process with apparently no problems, but then the problems began to arise. Asuka remembered hearing something like the EVA was acting berserk and that Kyoko's brainwaves were ecstatic with whatever activity was going on inside the EVA. She remembered Henkel's voice ordering the abortion of the test activation. Even as a child she knew something horrible had happened to Mama.

"Mama!" Asuka and her child self seemed to scream in perfect unison at the sights cast before them. Asuka knew where this nightmare was going. Her mother had somehow completely lost her mind due to whatever had happened in Unit 02, reducing her to an almost vegetative state.

"Humourous sight eh?" the voice behind her asked mockingly. "I love trips down memory lane."

"Who do you think you are you bastard?" yelled Asuka, who was clearly shaken by the reenactment of her mother's disastrous test activation. "What are you trying to prove by doing this to me?"

"I'm showing you the truth," the man replied. "These very events shaped you into what you are today. These very events, although occurring so long ago have dictated your every thought, movement, and action." He held out a hand towards Asuka, and an invisible burst of energy thrust toward Asuka, striking her directly.

While the burst of power didn't push Asuka back or anything, it was however making more images appear in her mind. "NO!" she screamed. "I don't want to see this again!" The sight brought before her was the sight of the hot springs at Mt. Asama Volcana where she talked with Misato. Misato had revealed to Asuka that she knew of her dark past and Asuka asked Misato never to disclose it to anyone for any reason at all. Next she was assaulted with the image of the phone call her stepmother made to Asuka. And after the fact, when Shinji had asked her about the phone call, Asuka at first responded that it was merely her stepmother calling to see how she was doing. But abruptly as the thought of Mama came to mind, having those nightmarish thoughts being exposed by the 15th Angel, the facts of it all made Asuka give in to rage and she blew off Shinji for no reason at all.

"Why?" Asuka demanded to know, brought to her knees by the images of her past. "So what I had a shitty past." She tried her best to calm down and not lose control of the situation. "What's your purpose with showing me these images?"

"My purpose is to show you that regardless of what you do," the man responded, "that the past dictates your life now and it will always. You think you may have rebounded from the incidents of the Angel War, but we both know it's a façade and your mighty breakdown is inevitable. And if you're lucky you won't take your loved ones with you when you ultimately fall."

"S-shut up!" Asuka quickly shot back. "You may know what h-happened to me! But you don't know M-ME at all!"

"You're so sure of yourself are you? Then why are you beginning to stutter?" the man half-taunted. "Are you slowly beginning to understand that you are controlled by your memories? Perhaps this shall enlighten you." He waved his hand and that same black smoke arose which Asuka had found nauseating before and she quickly passed out from its overwhelming effect on her.

Once she awoke, Asuka found herself in what looked like an oversized hospital room. It didn't take Asuka long this time to register where she was. The hospital where her mother was confined to because according to the doctors who treated her, she had completely lost her mind. The sight before Asuka was yet another horror for her to behold, as she recalled being tormented by the sight of Kyoko referring to some doll as Asuka and assuming the real Asuka was some random stranger peeking through the window.

"_Don't cry my dear," Kyoko would say to the doll, "otherwise that girl out there will make fun of you."_

"And now to show how this dictated your future through your hatred of dolls," a voice that belonged to the stranger said. Before Asuka came another vision. This one depicted the argument between Asuka and Rei before the 15th Angel. Asuka remembered this was the moment in her state of depression where her hatred of Rei solidified, as she thought of Rei as Commander Ikari's windup doll who would follow any orders without question.

"STOP IT!" Asuka screamed. "I'm gonna fucking kill you when I get my hands on you!"

"Will you now?" the figure asked her mockingly. "You still don't know who I am. Here on this plane, powers and manifestations beyond the wildest imaginations are here." Asuka still had that half confused half angry look so the redhead was in serious need of some enlightenment. "I am you in a sense. I am the manifestation of your memories."

"My memories?"

"Everything and anything you can remember, is what makes me who I am. And on top of that, your hate and your anger have tainted me with darkness. Thus you have made me very powerful. You can't just simply kill me, because I am a part of you. Now behold the memory that shall break you."

"No…" Asuka whimpered dreading the memory that was coming, "please don't…"

Even Asuka's best pleas would not have deterred her memory's manifestation from revealing the final memory within her mind. She tried to close her eyes and shut out any and all sounds. But it was all to no avail. She saw herself through her child-self's eyes running towards where her mother she figured was. She remembered this was the day she was officially chosen to be an EVA pilot. It was supposed to be one of the best days out of the past days that were terrible. But her life since that day had completed its revolution from right side up to completely upside down. The sight of Kyoko Sohryu having hanged herself while still clutching the doll had completely traumatized Asuka and its effects were still taking their toll on Asuka to this very day.

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NERV Berlin – Central Omicron

"Hmm, this is an issue indeed," noted Dr. Akagi. "Is the MAGI absolutely certain that Units 01 and 02 are completely silent?"

"There's no stating otherwise Dr. Akagi," replied a male technician. "Ever since the pilots of Units 01 and 02 were killed on the battlefield, it's almost as if the EVAs have completely shut down and refuse to accept any sort of response or command."

"This is just great," Ritsuko sighed. Ever since their crushing defeat at Hamburg, they were now going to be spending the next seven days trying to plan some sort of counter attack to the inevitable assault by the Russian forces, whom for reasons that seemed supernatural had a might that was on the verge of swallowing up Europe. "So instead of being able to try and get four EVAs into battle, we'll have to make do with three."

"That is unfortunately the case ma'am," a female technician replied. "Unit 00 is in great condition. Unit 01 needs all of its armour layers replaced, which can be done in time. Unit 02 will need several layers replaced. Unit 04 is heavily damaged and may not be repaired in time. Unit 05 is undergoing repairs and will be battle ready. Unit 06 is also in great condition."

'But why is Commander Henkel repairing Units 01 and 02?' Ritsuko wondered. 'If they've completely shut down, there's no point in trying to repair them.' Ritsuko noticed that the commander was indeed in the room, just returning from his meeting. Ritsuko saw her opportunity. "Commander, I have a question."

Henkel sighed for a moment. The debate was indeed an intense one and he was tired. But there was a dire situation at hand, and he needed to be as available as possible. "Go ahead."

"Why are you ordering repairs on Units 01 and 02? There's no one that can pilot those two EVAs. Our resources are better spent on preparing the EVAs that we know will be able to function."

"Sometimes Dr. Akagi, we have to hope that fate will shine on us," Henkel replied. "Just because they don't work today doesn't mean they will not work tomorrow. I've always known that these machines tend to have minds of their own." He motioned for Ritsuko to follow him down a corridor where they could be unheard by those who shouldn't know the darker secrets of the Evangelions. "I know that EVAs themselves are grieving. And that they miss the pilots they're used to having in the entry plug. I can't really explain the whole phenomenon, but they need to be given time to grieve too. They have souls just like us."

"That makes sense and all," countered Ritsuko, "but what are we going to do if the EVAs don't stop 'grieving'?"

"That is also why I ordered that Units 01 and 02 be outfitted with the F-type armour," Henkel went on. "If conventional ways do not work, then we should try adding additional armour to try and bind the EVAs to our will. The MAGI claim that it is very much a long shot, but we must try everything. If we can activate Units 01 and 02, then Rei can pilot Unit 01 with Unit 00 as backup, and Ivana can try to pilot Unit 02 with the extra armour protecting her."

"I see," sighed Ritsuko. 'So basically we're placing our future in the hands of two grieving souls who saw their children die because we sent them into battle. We don't deserve their help after what we've done.'

--------------------------------------------------------------

"So Asuka," the figure began, "we've had quite a nice stroll down memory lane. Did the refresher make you understand, how your every move has been manipulated by your memories?"

Asuka was near speechless. The redhead's face had gone completely pale from the revelations. It all made sense to her. After her mother's suicide, she was never the same girl she once was. She became determined to prove that she would not be lost in her mother's shadow. She pushed herself beyond her limits, quickly grinding out a college degree and making beyond remarkable progress in being able to pilot Unit 02. But she had never allowed herself to make many friends, and all her peers although saw her as an intelligent beautiful woman; she had the personality of a komodo dragon.

"The Angel War was my ultimate chance to show that I was indeed destined for greatness and superiority above all that dared to oppose me. But as she left Germany for Japan, my anger and my memories followed closely behind, but lay dormant for the most part." But that day on the cruiser Over The Rainbow, was the day her life took another turn, it was the day she met Shinji Ikari. It surprised yet angered her that some nobody from out of nowhere with little to no training was already pulling off scores that had taken her years to accomplish. And over time Shinji had surpassed her and proved to be a more superior pilot to her. "And as he continued to rise up, me against everything I once stood for began being drawn to him. Drawn to his compassion, and especially the underlying strength that pushed him to victory after victory while I was pushed out of the spotlight by my failures to beat the Angels."

"Even as my scores began to freefall, others tried to reach out and help me and they all meant well too." But Asuka now realized that her determination to be the best with no help at all had made her angry to see others offering her, the ultimate child prodigy… HELP. "Even Wondergirl, who lacked almost any emotions at all could even sense my hidden perils and offered a few words of advice. But my anger afflicted on me from the past had once again manipulated me. Instead of accepting her help, I had slapped my fellow teammate and shoved her away."

"And then, it all came back," she muttered. "My foolish pride finally came full circle that fateful day. The day I faced the 15th Angel, and I almost lost everything, including my own life." Asuka could recall clearly the day she was attacked by the Angel floating way out in space. The Angel had stripped away the surface and exposed all of Asuka's fears and nightmares and threw them right in her face, showing her over and over that she was bound by her past and that she was destined to be the same failure her mother was. "I was destined to follow my mother's path… and I almost succeeded too."

"It was merely put off by a lucky intervention," the figure spoke. "And now your past has come full circle. You have realized for the first time that your past truly dictates who you are. It is time to follow in your mother's footsteps, and slip away into the darkness created by your memories of anger, sadness, loneliness and despair."

"I'm sorry…" Asuka muttered. She could feel the darkness slowly beginning to consume her soul, trap her in the familiar feeling of being eternally lost within a nightmare. "I guess it's who I am. A failure… if only I saw this sooner, I never would have suffered like I did…"

"No! Don't give in!" a voice from the void called out.

"Huh?" Asuka snapped to attention. "Who said that?" It was a boy's voice. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where it was coming from.

"Do not let the past decide what kind of person you are to be," a girl's quiet voice called out.

"What are you talking about?" Asuka asked the voices.

"They mean that the person you are is decided in the present," an older woman's voice answered. "The past is already set. You may have been one person in the past, but you become a new person with every coming day. And you evolve and change overtime. How we change with time never goes stagnant, not even for a moment."

"But I was always a bitch," Asuka countered as she floated in the darkness. "And I was reminded of it every day. Everyone, including Shinji, Toji, Kensuke, Elly, Casanova, and even Misato for fucks sake!"

The quiet voice spoke next to her, "It's because you refused to let go of the past. And you let it corrupt and corrode the happy child you once were. You were capable of overcoming such traumatic events, but you held on to them with such vigor that you did not change as much as you wanted to."

"You didn't want to move on Asuka," the boy's voice said to her. "You were determined to let your mother's accident and her death motivate you into achieving your goals. You were angry that your mother killed herself and left you all alone to fend for yourself. And you carried that anger with you."

"What was I supposed to do?" Asuka shot back at the voices. "I loved Mama when she didn't jump off the deep end. I didn't want to forget her, even if she killed herself!"

"That's natural," the older voice said. "A child's desire for their mother is very natural. But your love for your mother rotted into anger when she went insane and then later died. But you must understand that it was not your fault she died like she did."

"But look at me now," Asuka began to sob. "It's all come back to haunt me. And it will for eternity. I'm dead and I'll be stuck remembering the horrors of my life forever. And one day, I'll forget everything that was good… and I will be all alone."

"That's right," the dark voice replied. "So it's best you give in, and hold on to your memories while you still have them. You will one day forget, but that's still a long ways off. But if you cling to your past as tight as you can, you can stay in the past and be locked away within the core of your memories. That much I can say about your state of mind."

"He's lying Asuka," the boy called out. "He's lying and you know it!"

"What do you mean?"

"You're still in denial," the quiet girl responded. "He wants you to admit you are incapable of changing, and incapable of moving past the dark times people encounter in their lives."

"But I don't want to forget the past," Asuka said right back. "It's all I have left of Mama."

"There's nothing wrong with remembering the past," the older woman stated. "But you shouldn't cling to the past like it's all you have. Otherwise you will never live in the present nor the future and all it has to offer."

"So I can still remember Mama, and live in the here and now at the same time?" Asuka asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"You're understanding now," the quiet one answered. "Once you come to grips with the past and accept it as it is, and move on is absolute proof that you have changed from the person of yesterday."

"Pathetic," the dark one put in. "Letting go of what you hold dear in your heart Asuka. You disappoint me. I thought you would understand more clearly that your past dictates who you are, and will always be so."

"You shut the bloody fuck up, du verdammter Bastard!" Asuka roared at the dark being before her. "You tried to manipulate me into being consumed by my memories. And for that, Dich röst ich auf kleiner Flamme..." her frown now turned into a smile of confidence. "My past is still the past, and it sucks a lot of dirty ass, but to hell with it. I'll just have to deal with it! And Shinji had better support me every step of the way unless he wants to sleep on the floor for the rest of his unnatural life here in heaven!"

"You really think you can vanquish me this easily?" the dark figure roared at her. "I am YOU! And I'll prove it!" Clenching his fists, more black smoke appeared. This time there was so much smoke that it completely concealed the dark being that was trying to manipulate Asuka all this time. "I'll completely crush you then!"

To Asuka's surprise, the darkness had completely disappeared, and the endless clouds had once more brought themselves before her. But however, something was creating an enormous shadow behind her. Turning around, Asuka sighted what appeared to be a gigantic humanoid shaped being that was coloured in black and red. It was an EVA! But with renewed resolve, she didn't budge. "You think you can scare me with an EVA?" Asuka challenged. "I am who I am. Asuka Langley Sohryu! And today, I put my past to rest! Go ahead and stomp me if it makes you feel stronger! I am not afraid anymore!"

As the black EVA raised a foot up in preparation to stomp her, Asuka did nothing but close her eyes and stretch out her arms almost as in victory. 'Ah well, I guess I can say I went out with a bang. He can crush me for all I care; it only proves he couldn't break me in the end. Thanks you guys… Misato… Wonder… err Rei… and thank you Shinji.'

Right as the black EVA's foot was about to crush our favourite redhead into a German pancake, something stopped it in its tracks. Asuka felt the shock of the EVA hitting something other than her head. Opening her eyes, she saw herself surrounded by an orange barrier. This barrier was keeping her from being stomped. "Huh? What's going on? Where did this barrier come from?"

"It is the barrier of your soul," a voice behind Asuka responded. "This barrier shields your soul from outside forces that seek to destroy or corrupt your soul." Lilith faded into view. "This is what mankind calls the AT Field. This barrier shows that you refuse to let your memories consume you and you're ready to seek your true identity. One not bound by the just the past, but also the present and the future."

"Ah I understand. By accepting my past, I have finally emerged from the darkness," Asuka exclaimed as she looked up at the foot trying futility to penetrate through. "So I guess I passed my test of my soul then."

Lilith gave Asuka a heartwarming smile. "Yes you did Asuka. I am very proud of you. You are ready for the next step indeed."

"But… before you do that, can I ask one favour of you?" Asuka inquired.

Lilith quirked an eyebrow. "What exactly do you ask of me?"

"Do you think you could materialize my Unit 02 or something like that?" Asuka asked. "For putting me through all that bullshit, I wanna give this bastard the beat down!"

Lilith was still slight surprised but understood that this was just who Asuka was, a girl who had seen many things throughout her life: happiness, sadness, anger, despair, love, acceptance but above all else, a master at delivering distributive justice. "Very well…" Lilith replied with a smile as she faded out. Asuka then was surrounded by darkness again, until she abruptly choked on some fluid she abruptly breathed in. Although caught by surprise for a moment, it didn't take Asuka long to figure out she was in an entry plug. The feeling felt familiar too. So Asuka figured that Lilith had managed to replicate her 'precious' Unit 02.

"Alright!" Asuka shouted as she gripped the control yokes in front of her and faced down the black EVA. "Okay asshole! Pissing off Asuka Langley Sohryu and making her cry is a serious capital offence. One that is punishable by SERIOUS pain and possibly death! So prepare yourself!"

At Asuka's command, Unit 02 roared headlong into battle at high speed. Asuka's attack was so quick; her memory's manifestation wasn't prepared for her assault and took the shoulder barge head on. As a result it was thrown clear by Asuka's forceful impact. Not wasting another moment, Unit 02 leaped into the air preparing for an airborne attack. The black EVA quickly rolled out of the way though. As Asuka turned to face the fallen enemy, she was greeted by two feet to her EVA's face knocking her over.

"Dammit!" Asuka grunted as she rolled out of the way of an intended stomp from her attacker. Acting quickly, she sought to gain the upper hand again through a sweeping her EVA's legs and tripping up the black EVA. It crashed hard to terra firma and Asuka wasted no time in climbing on top of it to rattle some punches into its head. But the black EVA caught her hands and delivered a kick to Asuka's chest, knocking her off the EVA. Asuka rushed back to her feet to start back at square one. "Not bad," Asuka grinned. "I'm glad you're at least willing to put up a decent fight." She took a combat stance, "Because it'll look that much better when I stomp you down for good."

"Oh will it now?" her opponent finally spoke to her. She could hear his voice deep in her mind. "I am the manifestation of your memories mind you. And I know everything about you. Your attack patterns, what you love, what you hate, what makes you sad, and what makes you scared."

"So what?" taunted Asuka. "You're a little late to the party, because I know all that too! Nothing you do can scare me!"

"Are you so sure of that?" the dark one asked back mimicking Asuka's tone. "Why don't I use the one weapon that sliced the life out of you?" With a poof of smoke around the black EVA's hands, Asuka gazed on in horror at the weapon clutched in his hands. It was exactly the same scythe that Vladimir Topolov with great mastery, had used to kill her and Shinji in the Battle of Hamburg. The figure held pointed the sickle end at Asuka. "Feel afraid now little one?"

"As if!" Asuka replied. "At least you're not really Vladimir! How do you think you can use that effectively anyways?"

"So quickly you forget. I am your memories. Your subconscious has recorded his moves and patterns. And so I know all his movements up until you died." He twirled the scythe a few times. "And all you have is your prog knife to defend yourself with."

Asuka indeed had the one knife in her hand, as it was her only weapon. 'Okay, so trying to block his attacks is clearly not an option,' she told herself. 'He's got the sickle end for reaping purposes, and the spear end for alternate attacks. I'm gonna have to rely completely on dodging and waiting for the right moment. Heh, if he has my memories, he's still living in the past then. Bound by foolish pride he is. Maybe I can provoke him.' She pointed her knife at him. "Heh, you needed to resort to a scythe to take on a girl who you think is too cocky for her own good. Are you sure it's not you who's compensating for something?" she taunted him.

"Shut up!" her opponent roared as he lunged at her with the scythe, furiously attacking her with both ends of the deadly weapon. Asuka did not bother trying to counterattack, but merely dodged every swing. As she kept evading, her enemy's moves became more and more sloppy. Sloppy to the point where he was getting predictable. When the black EVA brought the scythe overhead for an overhead cleave, Asuka was so focused and in position that she was able to do a back flip to evade the scythe. And as a result it missed her and struck where she once stood with incredible force kicking up dust and whatnot.

But as Asuka looked at her opponent again, she knew she had to keep moving otherwise risk being sliced and diced. The black EVA raised its scythe again and swung down at a 45 degree angle. Asuka ducked and advanced so she could get behind him. However the shadow saw this and continued to follow through with the original cut. Abruptly he brought the other end of the modified scythe around to Asuka. Asuka saw this attack coming and ducked again dodging the other end. Left wide open, the black EVA couldn't defend itself from a quick stab from Asuka's progressive knife and then a kick to the chest. Her opponent was not likely injured, but the fact that she was able to wound him using only a knife against his scythe would leave its mark.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Asuka taunted him again. "Now I can see why it sucks to be bound in the past. Especially my past. I was able to let go of my pride, while you cling to it like two monkeys in mating season."

"I'll destroy you and assimilate you into the darkness!" the black EVA growled, as he was quickly losing his composure. "Just you wait! You'll slip up and then it'll be all over! You are a fool to challenge me!" He jumped in the air for one final strike, bringing down every bit of might the EVA could muster.

Asuka looked up and sighed at the sight before her. Strangely, everything seemed to slow down around her. "I really wish someone could have seen this. Me, Asuka Langley Sohryu in my finest hour. Able to finally step out of the darkness into the light. Surprising what a little spiritual enlightenment can do to someone. But I guess it can't be helped. I think it's time I ended this fight. But how could I do that… that's it! I'll just take a handful of anger from the past and let him have it! I'm living in the here and now, but I'm not afraid of my past either! And I think I'll borrow a page from Shinji's book too."

"This is the end!" the dark one declared as he brought down his scythe on Unit 02… or so he thought. He felt his whole body crash into something and stopped him cold in his tracks. As he looked at whatever hit him, he noticed he was lying on top of an orange barrier that was being generated around Unit 02.

"You're right, this is the end!" Asuka retorted. "The end for you. Like I said before, it's time you met your punishment for upsetting me!" The AT Field Asuka had generated began to glow completely orange, eclipsing Asuka from the sight of her foe. "Take this! AT… EXPLOSION!" Stretching out her arms, her AT Field expanded at the rate of the shockwave of an N2 mine, decimating everything that would be in its path. The resulting explosion sent the black EVA flying, doing immense damage to it in the process.

When all was done and the smoke cleared from the explosion, the black EVA saw something floating in the air. It was Unit 02! And somehow, it had spawned orange spectral wings and had taken flight. He tried to move so he could resume the battle. But he was in too much pain to move. "Dammit," he growled, at his failure to consume Asuka, and his inability to move. "Go ahead and finish it then."

"I don't need to," Asuka replied. "I have already conquered you. Mind, body and soul. You stay where you belong. In the past, while I move on to the future. I can't destroy you anyways, since that would be destroying my own memories. And while most of my memories I'd like to toss to the wind, some of my thoughts I actually like thinking about. So you can stay there. And just be a part of something greater. The new Asuka Langley Sohryu!" And as she finished her statement, everything faded including her EVA and the dark figure who had transformed into an EVA. Before her was Lilith, and she seemed impressed with the results.

"I'm impressed Asuka. Instead of using the chance to vanquish the memories that hurt you with their presence, you've accepted that they are a part of who you are. You have successfully completed the task we've put before you," Lilith stated.

"Whew," Asuka sighed as she wiped her forehead with her forearm. "So now what? What happens next?"

"Patience," Lilith replied. "Soon Shinji shall return from the dark abyss too, his soul cleansed of what burdens him the most. And then Tabris and I shall give you our final test."

'Well whatever that is, bring it on!' Asuka thought to herself. 'Shinji, you had better not take long, or I'll be coming after you!'


	72. Project V Part 8: Learning to Trust

Rei looked out at the night sky. It had been a long day for her and Elly Simpson. Zack Harper had not been himself lately, shown mostly by his pushing of her and Elly to learn as fast as they could to be able to defend themselves from the vicious assaults of Vladimir Topolov. Although Rei had engaged Vladimir briefly, the former albino knew that the Russian was more than capable of doing much more.

The night sky seemed to be reflecting the situation happening on earth. Darkness was sweeping across the land, eclipsing any and all light in its path. That same darkness was complimented by the state of the sky. Rei could see that the stars apparently had lost the slight twinkle that they once had, now just dim balls of light in the sky. The full moon, which seemed rather large, failed to shine as luminously as it once did.

"The stars don't twinkle, the moon doesn't shine," Rei said out loud to no one in particular. "It's almost as if the heavens themselves are mourning the sad state that has become of our planet. Ever since Asuka and… Shinji lost their lives; this planet has lost its light in the darkness." A tear streamed from her eye from the thought of her deceased brother. "And with the way things are looking, the light itself will soon go out."

-------------------

Earlier that Day

"You're moving too slow!" Zack half yelled at Elly as she struggled to keep up with Zack's movements. "If you move too damn slow, he will chop you to bits before you know it!"

"Damn it, I can't keep up! You're being too fucking rough!" Elly shot back. She was holding a training bokken much like the one Rei standing beside her held, while Zack standing opposite to her held one about twice the length of hers, imitating a staff. The purpose of this was to prepare Elly and Rei for dueling Vladimir, who held a scythe which was very much like a staff.

"You have to work at being able to keep up!" Zack countered. "And if I'm being too rough, then Vladimir is a fucking lunatic. He's ten times worse than I'm being right now!"

"Harper, calm down!" called Ivana who was watching from a distance. She was confined to crutches because of a muscle tear in her right leg which prevented her from walking without enduring any sort of pain. "Yelling won't make them better!"

"Ivana stay out of this!" Zack readied himself for another round with Elly and Rei. "If they're going to learn, they have to learn now and fast! Vladimir is coming within a week and he's not going to show any mercy. You saw how fast he killed Shinji and Asuka!"

"And you're not going to be able to teach them properly if you keep acting like an asshole Casanova!" Misato interjected as she walked into the room. "There's a difference between being strict and being an asshole! And you're leaning towards asshole!"

With Misato being a restraint on Zack's growing anger, the Canadian began to cool down, silently agreeing with her statement. It was a tense time for all of them, for within less than seven days they were going to be attacked by a force that they were not sure that they could be able to stop. He sighed, "I'm sorry guys. I need to go sit down for a bit," he said to Elly and Rei, his humility taking command over his frustration. He walked off to the side towards a bench and sat down. "Think you can teach them something Ivana? You use a staff mind you."

"I'll try." Ivana hobbled to the center of the room on her crutches. "I think I can do some movements, I'll just have to be careful not to aggravate my injuries." Dropping the crutches and picking up the wooden staff, she began to teach Elly and Rei. "Alright, pay attention. I won't be able to do this as well as Casanova can, so you'll have to improvise on your own as best you can."

Misato looked over at Zack sulking on the bench. He probably felt like a complete ass from his yelling at Elly and Rei earlier. Misato could see that both girls were quite shaken from the Canadian's complete change of attitude. As much as she wanted to smack him for his behaviour, she did not see what he had seen out there in the Battle of Hamburg. He had to bear witness to two of his fellow pilots being struck down and killed by the rogue pilot Vladimir Topolov and now finally it was taking its toll on his state of mind. The desire to avenge their deaths was probably the only thing they could possibly think of. But it was taking too much of a toll to the point where the kids couldn't prepare properly for Topolov's return which would be in six and a half days.

Figuring Casanova could use a few words of confidence; Misato walked over to Zack and sat down next to him. Zack either pretended not to notice his guardian sitting beside him, or was too lost in thought to notice. After a minute of almost silence, Misato broke that silence with a simple, "Hey".

"What up," Zack replied still not facing his guardian.

"Are you alright?" Misato asked. She had got his attention, now she had to keep that conversation going for both their sakes.

"Not really," Zack muttered. "I watched them die Misato. And I couldn't do a single thing about it, except fight for my own life." He paused for a moment before going on. "Those images have embedded themselves into my mind and I don't think I'll never be able to forget that day."

"Zack, no one expects you to forget what happened out there." Misato put an arm around him. "I don't even think Commander Ikari wants you to forget what happened out there. I know what Topolov did is going to bother not only you, but Elly, Rei, Ivana, and all your friends back in Japan. And that mark is going to last a very long time."

"Why Misato?" Zack looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Why do we have to fight that psycho? This isn't fair! Why do we have to fight someone who thinks of nothing other than killing other people for his own pleasure? Like that guy had a blast just because he got to kill Shinji and Asuka!"

Zack's remark echoed in Misato's mind. Having two friends die at a young age would rattle the mind for a good deal of time. But eventually the grieving party would be able to come to terms with his/her pain and be able to move on with their life. However this case felt different. This time the grieving party had watched his friends being butchered by another teen which some would argue that Vladimir Topolov was indeed insane. Misato obviously wouldn't be able to feel the pain of Zack and the others out there. But at the same time she felt the pain of having two of her loved ones ripped from her arms and never to return because Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Sohryu had their lives taken from them by Topolov. But she would try everything she could to comfort them and give them the resolve they needed to make a stand.

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Compared with what Shinji was accustomed to at NERV: fighting Angels, trying to win acceptance from his father, going through what some may have called Hell at Misato's apartment, and balancing schoolwork, this definitely wasn't par for the course in his mind with all that had happened today. Shinji had been told that he was to go to Germany to apparently fight what had appeared to be a war that Russia had started. With a few encouraging words from Dr. Akagi, his father, and Misato, Shinji decided that fighting for the sake of your loved ones could be justified. But none of them were prepared for what Russia was going to unleash on the four unsuspecting EVA pilots: Evangelion Unit 10 and its pilot Vladimir Topolov. Right away they learned he was going to be a difficult adversary to defeat. Problem was that he was much more powerful than any expert had predicted, and Shinji found his EVA skewered by the back end of Unit 10's specially designed scythe. Shinji remembered that his body had abruptly seized up from the shock and went into a cardiac arrest. Luckily for Shinji he had passed out before he could feel the pain of such an episode, dying in Unit 02's arms. He had then woke up in what he had learned to be Heaven, was granted access into the grand kingdom so he could be prepared for what Kaowru and Lilith had decreed, a rematch with Topolov.

Out on this open cloudy like range somewhere in the Kingdom of Heaven, Shinji had somehow lost his way. Asuka, Lilith and Kaowru had pretty much disappeared once he and Asuka were hit by that large flash of light.

'What did they have in mind when they desired to train our souls?' Shinji pondered as he continued to walk the never-ending cloudy plains. 'Are we supposed to gain something out of all this?'

Up ahead, Shinji wondered if what he saw was a stepping stone to having his question answered. But something didn't feel right. The object he saw up ahead seemed well out of place in a place such as grand as the Kingdom of Heaven. It was humanoid shaped, clad completely in black clothing, and apparently was staring right at him.

Shinji stopped within ten feet of the being, not knowing whether it was dangerous to him or not. Thinking for a moment, remembering that he was dead, Shinji concluded that it couldn't be a threat to him at all. "Who are you?" the boy asked the being.

"I am many things," the dark being replied with the voice of a young man. "But to answer your question completely would confuse you more than one of your intelligence could comprehend."

Slightly insulted by the reply, Shinji pressed his question hoping to get a reasonable answer. "What are you talking about? Who are you?"

The dark being sighed, "To answer your question in a way you would understand, one could say I'm you. Or in a sense I am a representation of you. To be more specific, I represent the uncertainty that lies deep in your heart. The uncertainty that makes you question and second-guess the actions of everyone around you, the uncertainty that makes you second-guess yourself."

"Uncertainty?" Shinji inquired. "What do you mean by that?"

"Come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about," the dark being replied. "The questions you constantly ask yourself day in and out. Despite every reassurance given, you still doubt the hard facts the world gives you."

"That's not true!" Shinji shot back. "I'm fine with my life as it is right now… or rather the life I once had."

"So you say, but you cannot deny the fact that you question not only yourself, but even more so of the people you interact with. Let's go with an example shall we?" The dark man raised his hand. From his hand came a purple coloured cloud. Shinji looked into the cloud and to his surprise saw an image on the other side. The image that was projected… was of his father.

"Father?"

"I think he's an excellent example, don't you agree?" the dark one asked. "The one and only being on this planet that got your ball of uncertainty and distrust rolling. The one that through his actions alone changed your view of the world forever."

They were only a few words to the normal teenage boy, but to one Shinji Ikari the remark hit him like a mountain, immediately bringing back all those awful memories, starting with the day his father had abruptly abandoned him at a train station all those years ago. His mother had disappeared recently after the accident involving the test startup of Evangelion Unit 01, and then his father had abruptly left him. For the first time in his life that day, Shinji felt unloved, due to not having his mother around who loved him dearly, and his father who deserted him without reason. And that feeling of being unloved would carry on into his childhood years and into the preteen years. Just when he thought he could put those feelings of being unloved behind him, this being was bringing it all back.

"Why are you doing this?" Shinji demanded to know. "I don't see what you're trying to get out of bringing up a bad memory!"

"What am I trying to get?" the dark one responded. "I am merely trying to show you the truth. Do you ever wonder if your father really is trying to change, or is this just an act for you to be able to trust him better?"

"I… I… that's not true!" Shinji stuttered. "I trust him. He's not the man who he used to be!"

"Can you say that with absolute certainty?" the dark being countered. "I know that you are not 100 sure about what you say. What's to stop him from suddenly going back to the bastard commander whom you'd hate and despise? What's to stop him from acknowledging you as his only son?"

"That's… not true!"

"Is it?"

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Temporary Russian Base… likely in Germany… just use your imagination or something.

"WHAT THE FUCK!!!" a teenager roared in fury. "What do you fucking mean he escaped?"

"I'm sorry sir Lord Topolov," an adult spoke towards the teenaged voice which belonged to the furious Vladimir Topolov. "The prisoners surprised the guards sir, and he managed to escape. Patrols were unable to find him. We suspect he's heading towards Berlin."

Vladimir, who was sitting down in deep meditation in his private quarters now rose to his feet, his six foot one figure towering over the subordinate. Despite the paling of his face and the slight graying of his hair one could see the clear fury in his eyes. "And you figured this out all by yourself?"

The officer, clearly frightened by the features of his teenaged superior and by the feeling that the boy was emitting couldn't mutter a word. Vladimir took the chance to speak once more.

"You know what, I'm impressed. So impressed that I'll make this one quick for you." With a flash of speed, Vladimir grabbed the man's collar and lined up his fist with his subordinate's face. The officer looked on in horror as the boy's gloved right hand began to glow with a dark aura, and it was the last thing he saw as his head was launched across the room and splattered against the wall.

Vladimir tossed the remainder of the officer's body to join the mess against the wall. He relished the power he just felt. "Ah, I can feel my power growing. Slowly but surely I'm getting more powerful. It seems that with every person I can kill, my power keeps growing." He saw another subordinate walk into the room to check on his… former comrade. He shivered at the sight on the far wall. "You," Vladimir called to the second officer. "Are the people involved in this little uprising still alive?"

"Uh… uh… n-no sir," the officer replied with fear in his voice. "They were all killed as requested."

"And what of the people we brought in from the town near Berlin?"

"We detained them upon our suspicions of them leaking information to the German army sir," the officer answered.

"Good." Vladimir's smile turned wicked. "Bring one of them here. Preferably a young one. I wish to… interrogate them personally."

"As you wish sir." The subordinate left the room to complete the task his younger but superior master had set before him.

Now that he had some alone time, there was a chance to contemplate the events that were taking place as of right now. As he knew the events, much of the world had indeed agreed to surrender knowing the power of an Evangelion was pretty much unstoppable. But nonetheless, there were going to be some nations that would not live up to the call for a global surrender to the Russian nation. Vladimir knew however, that the government put in place was simply a puppet government meant to overshadow his master's plans for humanity, which would finally put them all in their proper place. Vladimir couldn't help but smile at the thought that his master allowed the battle-hardened teenager to be the direct executor of his will. So far, all who had opposed him were crushed in painful ways. Two of the four Evangelion pilots he had engaged were now dead, with one likely injured. And if the reports he heard were correct, two more Evangelions, Unit 00 piloted by the former half-Angel, and Unit 06 piloted by a bikini model, were also going to take part in some 'last stand' against him in six days along with the fool in Unit 05. If that was all NERV Berlin had to offer, then it would be a delicious and satisfying chance to torture and eventually kill those three children who dared to challenge his power.

He turned around to see the door open as two guards came in to the room, dragging in a young girl who couldn't be any older than twelve years of age. "As you requested my lord," one of the guards replied.

"Good. Now leave." At once the guards dropped the captive and left the room, leaving Vladimir alone with her. He then turned his attention towards the very frightened girl. "Now then, I have some things I wish to discuss with you," he said as he clenched his gloved fist. Lightning coursed through his hand as he walked towards the girl.

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"If you're so sure of what you believe Shinji," the dark man went on, "how would you feel when that trust one day isn't returned? What is really to stop him from going back to being the bastard you knew and despised?"

Shinji was about to raise a counterpoint but stopped to think for a moment. 'He might actually be right. Father didn't care about me for the longest time, and then he suddenly had a use for me. And now that I'm needed more than ever with my increasing capabilities in an EVA, he now finds this need to suddenly be nice to me so I don't abruptly quit nor have any other problems.'

The dark man put a hand on Shinji's shoulder, almost in a consoling manner. "Ah, I can feel your doubt growing my boy. It's always good to have that sense of doubt about everyone. It's the only way you can protect yourself from the darkness in other people's hearts."

"But wait a second," Shinji quickly put in. "My father may not be the easiest person to trust, but not everyone is like him. There are people out there who can be trusted."

"Oh are you so sure about that?" the man in black replied. "Or do you need another example besides your father to prove to you that you cannot trust anyone?"

"Shut up!" Tears began to find their ways into Shinji's eyes. This man for reasons unknown was trying to goad Shinji into hating those he loved. The boy was determined not to let this bastard mess with his mind. "You're trying to turn me against those I trust!"

"Perhaps I may be. But it's for your benefit Shinji. How would you like it if you got put on the spot by someone you trusted? Wouldn't you feel betrayed? Wounded inside?" The dark man raised his hand. "Another example is needed, to enhance my point of view." Like the first time a cloud of purple smoke arose from his hand. "Gaze into it my boy, and become enlightened."

Shinji didn't want to look, but something drew his brown eyes towards the sight he was told to behold. Much to his surprise the image in the clouds was that of… Misato Katsuragi, his guardian. "Misato?" Shinji was confused as to why he would question his ability to trust Misato. "But why her?"

"I think she is an excellent choice," the dark man said. Crossing his arms and not being able to remove the smile from his face, he went on. "She seems so stable and put together, sexy I also might add. But you've seen when she's broken down and completely unstable."

"She was my guardian while I was still alive," muttered Shinji with his head bowed down. "She was in her own bizarre ways, truly the first person who actually gave a damn about me outside of piloting EVA."

"But surely, one would have uncertainty with her," the dark man went on. "Take a look at her ex-boyfriend Kaji. She dates him for who knows how long, and then for no reason that anyone would know, she just breaks up with him. And now look at them, she wavers back and forth with him not knowing whether she wants to stay with him or not. He's nothing but a blinded fool for trusting in the fact that she will come back around to him someday."

"Misato may have her problems," Shinji countered, "but she was able to put that aside and look after Asuka, myself, and Pen-Pen. She even took in Zack, Ivana, and Rei too. She was the only one who genuinely cared about my well being for the first time in over ten years! She was like a mother to me. The mother I never had!" Shinji glared daggers at the man with the black hood. "You on the other hand, are the one I shouldn't trust above all else!"

"Fool. Do I need to educate you some more?" Letting his arms relax at his sides, he continued his manipulative lecture. "Did you forget how Misato was behaving near the end of the Angel War? If memory serves us correctly, one could swear she was trying to make a pass at you after the death of Kaji. She needed someone to fill the hole in her heart, and would have eventually broken that level of trust you had in her and taken you for herself." Shinji was about ready to deny this statement when the dark man spoke again, "And you know it too. Your trust in her began to erode that day."

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Vladimir's Quarters

"Bullshit you don't know!" Vladimir roared at the child slumped against the wall. He had thrown her against the wall just previously when she told him she knew nothing about an alleged spying operation. She along with many other people had been rounded up on Topolov's suspicions that the Germans had set up to learn as much as they could about the Russian army. He glared at her with pure malice in his eyes. The poor child had blood coming from her mouth and an incision on her left cheek from the injuries she sustained at the hands of that monster.

"One of my men saw YOU as one of the messengers that they caught trying to flee." He grabbed her with both hands by the throat and raised her up until her eyes locked with his. He could feel her struggling with no success to break his grip. Ignoring her struggles, he continued his interrogation. "Now, let's try this again. What have you been telling the Germans?"

The girl struggled to speak. "I…I told you… I don't know… anything!" She continued to struggle, if only to loosen the larger boy's grip on her windpipe.

"Wrong answer bitch!" the older boy yelled again. Concentrating deep within, his right hand pulsating with the power he held, power flowed into him quickly. The output of this power Vladimir summoned came in the form of electricity, which he would channel directly into the body of the girl, making her body jump and convulse violently as powerful charges of electricity shot through her. Seeing that his torture was causing his young prisoner immense pain, he allowed himself a smile. But it was brief as his face quickly returned to rage before he tossed the girl back across the room freeing her of his electric attack.

"See where your defiance is getting you?" Vladimir asked in a taunting manner. "It's only bringing you pain and suffering. And I guarantee that it only gets worse so as long as you continue to answer untruthfully." Looking down upon the preteen, he noticed her left forearm was bent in an abnormal manner at the elbow. It had obviously been broken from when Vladimir had thrown her just a moment ago. A wicked grin grew on his paling face. Forcing the girl onto her feet by her broken arm, she let out a scream of pain. He looked into her eyes, seeing a face that screamed of pain, but also one that begged of mercy. "Once more, what have you been telling the German army?"

The girl struggled to answer, but the amount of pain she was wrenched in prevented her from giving an eligible answer. All she could give out was a mumbled answer that not even Vladimir could understand. Looking into her torturer's eyes, she could tell in an instant that he was not satisfied with what she had tried to say. In truth she was going to tell him what he wanted to hear, but all she could muster was that mumble. And that apparently was not what the boy wanted to her. She could do nothing as his left hand slugged her face, imposing on her with more pain from her now broken cheekbone.

"Stupid girl!" Vladimir raised his boot and kicked her directly in the chest with high impact, the force throwing her out of his grasp and slamming to the floor in a heap. "If you honestly thought I would accept that as an answer, you must be dumb and stupid, and possibly a masochist," he said as he walked over to her broken frame. He figured that he had possibly broken a few ribs and maybe damaged a lung with that kick. He couldn't help but feel proud of himself, that feeling of flaunting that power however he wished. It felt good indeed. It would be disappointing that this girl's breaths were numbered. He towered over her, watching her desperately gasp for air after being badly winded.

"Are you afraid?" he taunted her; "Do you fear death? Can you feel yourself at death's door? Can you sense that your breaths are numbered?" Grabbing her by the collar of her ragged shirt he picked her up and slammed her against the wall. The girl could no longer stand and merely slumped to the ground. One could hear her laboured breathing from across the room. Vladimir picked her up by the throat and brought her up so her eyes matched his. "I'm disappointed really. All you had to do was tell the truth and it would have set you free. But now, you must pay the price for your failure to tell the truth." He tightened his grip on her, slowly squeezing the life out of the girl. She tried to fight back with her one good arm, but she couldn't even do that. She simply looked at his uncaring, unforgiving gray eyes and hoped she could find the slightest bit of mercy before he killed her.

But it would be for nothing. Vladimir tightened his grip and continued to strangle the poor girl to her death. Eventually he heard a crack. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and her head went limp. He smiled at his now dead victim before letting her body drop to the floor like a large doll. "To tell you the truth, I lied. I was going to kill you anyways," he said to the broken body. Now that business here was done, he walked toward the door, unlocked it and locked eyes with the guard standing outside.

"Clean up the mess in there. I have matters to attend to," he ordered as he walked down the hallways of the facility.

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"So do you understand now Shinji, that you shouldn't trust people?" the dark man inquired.

Shinji could feel the man's words wrenching their way into his soul his words making their way into his mind. He was trying his best to resist the darkness around the dark man's words, but he could feel himself slipping away. But he fought to keep control. "You know what? I don't care what you say! You're not going to shake my opinion one way or another!"

"But you cannot deny that the points I have raised so far are accurate of the truth."

"It's not the truth. I don't know exactly what may or may not be true, but I know you're twisting my mind so I'll believe whatever you say."

The dark man gave an impression that he wasn't impressed one bit. But still he was going to break this boy one way or another and he knew it too. It was nearly time to reveal his trump card and show Shinji the truth about humankind. "Must I really show you another example so as to prove why trusting your fellow man is the dumbest thing you can do?" He allowed himself a wicked smile. "And I can think of the perfect example too. One that will hit closer than either Misato or your father could."

The look on Shinji's face could have made one suggest that he had read the dark man's mind. The man laughed at the sight before him. "So apparently you're catching on. I guess our third person then requires no introduction." From his left hand, came a black cloud of smoke which Shinji now knew would produce an image of someone he knew. From within the cloud of smoke… came the image of Asuka Langley Sohryu.

"Asuka… but why…?" The boy was at a loss for words.

"Why not?" the dark man asked in a taunting manner. "She represents the best example as to what I have been trying to get through to you this entire time. When you first met her, she was probably the most self-centered, arrogant, selfish little bitch anyone had ever known. She despised you merely because you were the one standing in her way of becoming a world hero and champion."

"But… but…"

"But nothing!" the man quickly interjected. "And to sicken the plot, she decided to use you to meet her own ends. Why do you think she wanted to get close to someone like you? You were currently on top, in the position she coveted above all else. It would only make sense that she gets close to you, learn about you, and screw you over in the end so she can take the top spot."

"You're lying!" Shinji shot back. "Asuka may have issues, but she's really a good person under all her pain! I know it because she opened herself up to me!"

"Are you sure you just didn't catch her in a moment of weakness? I'm sure when she's good and ready she'll discard you like yesterday's news. Women sometimes need time to recover after something big goes down."

"But Asuka wouldn't…" Shinji wasn't sure what to say. Would his girlfriend really throw him away like he was nothing? She used to assume he was nothing in comparison to her in the past. Did that still hold true today?

"Ah now you're beginning to understand."

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Vladimir found himself where he was commanded to meet one of his masters. "Someone called for me?" he called out into the unknown.

"Ah there you are, you big handsome hunk," a woman's voice rang out across the room. A portal appeared in front of Vladimir and a figure in a black coat stepped out. "I have a task for you once you finish running over the EVA pilots in five days."

Vladimir knelt before the woman. "And what do you ask of me, Mistress?"

"At ease boy." Once Vladimir stood back up she continued. "It's a simple task rather. It'll be easy compared with what he has planned for you. I have found an interesting candidate. One who could potentially become an EVA pilot one day. Eventually I will bring him here and I want you to train the person I will select."

"As an apprentice?"

The woman allowed herself a chuckle. "In a sense. And you get to be the master of the apprentice I shall select for you. Are you up to the task?"

Vladimir mirrored her smile. "As always, just as with the Master, I am yours to command." But something else concerned him. "But Mistress, what of the one who escaped? What happens if he makes it to NERV Berlin? He has proven to be rather difficult to keep under guard. If he makes it there, he will tell them everything he knows about me. And with his assistance, they could come up with a tactic that could challenge my power."

"When in doubt my child, trust the power he has bestowed upon you," the woman answered. "As you continue to concentrate on your inner darkness, your power will continue to grow. And that power you gain will reflect your control over Unit 10. Eventually, you too could become… a god."

In Vladimir's mind, she was right. His power had grown greatly over the past few days. He felt almost unstoppable really. Not even an adult yet, he could already spread fear into the hearts of any man, woman, and child he had come across. He could kill anyone at will, and do so unopposed. That child he had dealt with, along with one of his own officers learned that lesson the hard way. With the coming and going of that thought, he had this urge to kill anyone else who had gotten in his way. It felt something similar to a hunger, the urge was. But luckily for those fools, there was no one he could think of that needed to be killed. His attention turned back to the woman. "Is our business here complete?"

The woman nodded. "Indeed. You have much to prepare for. It would be unwise to underestimate the resolve of those you will face very soon. Go now, and work on increasing your power."

Vladimir bowed once. "Yes ma'am. Right away." And with that he turned and walked away.

The dark woman watched Vladimir walk back to his quarters to work on his preparations. Once he was out of earshot, she heard another voice. "What a wonderful mentality we've set in him, don't you think?" This voice that echoed through the room was that of a much older man.

"So far, he is still in control of himself to a good degree," the woman replied to no one in particular. "However, I can sense his subconscious urges are turning into conscious urges bit by bit. I can smell the blood on him."

Another dark figure walked out of a portal that appeared and stood beside the woman. This figure was slightly taller than the woman, and slightly hunched over. "I'm concerned that with too much power, he'll be too difficult to control," the second figure stated. "He's already becoming bloodthirsty and he's starting to kill his own people to sate his appetite."

"He understands that I'm sure," the woman went on. "He knows that if Vladimir becomes too difficult to control, he will be dealt with. Personally I hope it doesn't come to that just yet. It may take some time to recruit the one I wish to have Vladimir train once our plan is put into place."

"And with the way he will soon start behaving, your recruit may be the one who will replace him instead," the old man countered. "But nonetheless, as long as he is obedient, the number of lives lost is meaningless. Most of those who will die are destined for darkness anyways. That much I have foreseen."

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"Now you see Shinji. People are NOT to be trusted," the dark man said. "I have shown you the true way, now you have to follow the path I have provided for you."

Shinji just stood there, not knowing what to say. Even with all his denials this dark being was making a good degree of sense. "Even as I tried to open up to people, they did nothing but shut me out. My father, one of the two people I should have been able to put my whole trust in, cared nothing for me. He proved this outright by abruptly abandoning me at the train station over ten years ago. And then he calls me back to NERV because he had some use for me. And he didn't apologize to me, nor did he even attempt to make any sort of conversation with me. All I was to him was a puppet while he only pulled my strings and only cared if I followed orders. I was nothing but a puzzle piece in his grand scheme."

"And Misato, she really had me fooled all along. And here I thought she was someone who actually gave a damn about whether I lived or died. She took me into her home and raised me as if I was like her child that she never had. It was a good feeling for a while. But as time went on I began to understand her mindset for taking myself and eventually Asuka in. She had a hole in her heart that needed to be filled. And we were what Misato needed to fill in her empty heart. And when Kaji was killed, it was only a matter of time before she came onto me, requiring me to fill in that void which Kaji used to fill."

"And… Asuka. She was the one I always looked to when I was down. Whenever I needed strength, I would turn to her because she was one of the best examples of strength there was. And when times got difficult, we would turn to each other. It took a long time, but we finally opened our hearts to each other. But I never knew all along, that she figured she was too good for me. She could use me as much as she pleased, before she discards me and moves on. I trusted her, and she only pretends to trust me as long as I cater to her and make her happy. I feel like an idiot."

Shinji sank to his knees. "I got nothing. I can't trust anyone. They all have their own agendas, and I'm nothing but a tool to help them complete their agenda."

"Now you understand Shinji Ikari," the dark man said, satisfied that Shinji finally understood the truth. "Use that anger, use that betrayal, and turn it into hatred. Hatred that you can you to exact your vengeance on those who have hurt you. Make them suffer and make them wish they never messed with you."

Shinji could feel darkness creeping into his soul. It was a cold feeling, but in some ways it was a familiar feeling. The feeling he had when he felt no one had cared about him. Now he would use that darkness to get back at those who had hurt him before. All was going as things should go…

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting away that easy you idiot!" a familiar female's voice screamed in his mind. "Do you believe everything you hear? For fucks sake listen to you talk! Do you really believe what you're saying?"

"What am I to do?" Shinji countered the voice. "Everyone who I believed in betrayed me or will betray me!"

"You can't say that absolute certainty Shinji," an older woman's voice spoke to him. "You cannot control the actions of others, but you can always believe that they will have no ill will towards. It is normal to naturally trust people."

Our dead hero did not feel convinced though. "As much as I may want to trust someone, there's going to be that one person who can and will try to screw me over when all is said and done."

"There will always be such people," a familiar man's voice came into the fray. "Should such a thing happen, it will be ultimately up to you to determine how such an event dictates your life. You can either let that moment define your life from that moment onwards and never progress, or you can get past that and allow yourself to grow."

"Do not listen to them," the dark man interjected. "Those moments need to define your life. You learn from them and you'll be able to protect yourself from them."

"Would you rather cower in a shell for the rest of your life hiding from a few douche bags?" the younger woman came back. "Or would you rather just ignore those assholes and look for the good things in life. Trust me, you are very much capable of finding the good in people and you know to stay away from the bad people."

"Human beings need something they can trust in," the older woman added on. "Without some degree of trust, be it in another person or object, people cannot grow and progress."

"So above all else…" Shinji wondered aloud, "I should try to trust people even though they may hurt me?"

"That is correct," the older man said. "This dark being has no desire other than to make you consume yourself through your own hatred and live what the afterlife has to offer in darkness."

"Shut up!" the dark man was getting angry. "You three, whoever you are speak nonsense! You wish to make him vulnerable and weak."

"You're wrong."

"What?" the dark man looked down at Shinji. To his horror, he saw the dead teenager slowly rise back to his feet, with an unpleasant look on his face, his fist consistently clenching and unclenching.

"If there's anyone I shouldn't trust, it's YOU!" Shinji declared loud and clear. "You tried to turn me against the very people I love! You'll pay for that!" Shinji then lunged at him with the intent of throwing a punch. But to his horror, he apparently passed right through the man in the black coat. Turning around Shinji could see the slight surprise in the dark man's expression.

The dark man quickly regained his composure and gave off a wicked laugh. "Come now. You make me pay? Humourous. What little power you have is nonexistent in comparison to my power. Watch and see."

Shinji watched as the dark man became now completely immersed in the smoke he was emitting earlier. The smoke expanded and grew until Shinji's vision was completely blinded. The smoke wasn't around for very long as it quickly subsided and Shinji was able to see the heavenly plains as they once were… with the exception of the very tall being standing in front of Shinji. It was huge, much like an Evangelion in a way. The black colouring reminded Shinji of Unit 10. The dark being must have transformed into this EVA sized monster.

'Damn,' Shinji thought as he stared straight up at the large monster. He took a hesitant step back. 'What am I going to do?'

"Now do you see where you stand foolish boy?" the dark man somehow spoke into his mind. "I can crush you flat!"

"Believe Shinji," another voice spoke in his mind. This one felt familiar too. Familiar it was to the point of recognition. Kaowru!

"Kaowru!" Shinji cried out in a panic. "He's gonna flatten me! What am I gonna do!"

"Just believe my friend," the Angel's comforting voice spoke. "Simply believe that you cannot be harmed, especially in the presence of the Lord. Should you accomplish that, you will succeed in defeating the darkness."

'Believe, believe,' Shinji pondered to himself. 'Kaowru's right I guess. I'm dead, so I don't see how things can get much worse. And basing on the assumption that there is a God here supposedly protecting me, loving me, caring, for me, I got nothing to lose since I'm already dead.' Content with his train of thought, he felt his mind relax, his heart beat slowing back down to normal, and oxygen passed through him without distress. All would be fine…

Next thing he knew, he found himself choking on something. It tasted of blood. Quickly centering himself, he realized that he was somehow in an entry plug. "This must be Unit 01, but how?" Realizing his question wouldn't be answered, he looked straight ahead. Indeed he was facing a black Evangelion. And he was ready to take it down.

"There's one thing you seriously forgot about me, demon!" Shinji said with a wave of confidence. "Of all the EVA pilots at NERV… I'm the only you shouldn't FUCK with!" Acting according to his will, Unit 01 assumed a combat stance. "And this is why!" He didn't know exactly where this confidence came from, but it felt good. And Unit 01 seemed to agree with Shinji as he felt his ability to synchronize with Unit 01 getting better and much easier.

"What… what's going on?" the dark man asked at the sight of Unit 01 before him. Once Shinji stopped talking, Unit 01 had begun to glow with an ominous white light. Suddenly the glow got stronger, strong enough to blind anything staring at it. The dark man in his transformed state had to avert his eyes so as to avoid going blind. "What are you doing? I can't see!"

However, once he turned back he would indeed be horrified at the sight he saw before him. Unit 01's armour shone brighter than before. The source of this was coming from behind Unit 01. Out of its back was a set of orange spectral wings, flapping slowly and giving the beast a more omnipotent vibe than it was originally.

Feeling power flooding into him, Shinji glared at the black beast. "All right, I know you're good at delivering pain and suffering. But let's see how well you can receive it!" With Shinji's will as the executor of Unit 01's movement, Unit 01 flew at the black EVA, hitting it directly in the chest with a shoulder charge at high speed sending it flying. Adrenalines flowing, Shinji charged forward, the wings of Unit 01 making it feel lighter than it actually was. He caught up to the flying black EVA and caught it by the foot, stopping its flight.

"Urgh!" the dark one groaned from the sudden stop. Shinji's speed and strength was incredible! Where did he get this power? Could he have been wrong about the trust Shinji had in people? "How did you do that?"

"In case you're wondering, I get my power from the trust I place in my loved ones, and returned by the trust they have in me to keep them safe. And I said I was going to make you pay! Take this!" With one swing, Unit 01 tossed the black EVA into the air and then flew after it.

Once he caught up with it, he saw the black EVA try to fight back. But Unit 01 was simply too fast and too maneuverable. Shinji proceeded to continue delivering justice to the dark manipulator. In rapid succession, albeit slightly sloppy, Shinji landed several punches and kicks before catching the black EVA by its foot and letting dangle several thousand feet above the ground. His intent was truly to make the bastard suffer before he finished it off.

"I guess it sucks having the tables turned on you doesn't it. I wonder if you can trust that I'll hold on and not let you fall!" Shinji taunted the dark being. "Well, what do you think?"

"DAMN YOU, YOU FUCKING BRAT!" the dark man groaned. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He struggled to move, but he was in too much pain to resist.

"I don't think so," Shinji said with a smirk. "I think it's time you faced your punishment!" As Shinji commanded, Unit began to swing the black EVA in several circles, before tossing it further into the air. Mind still in the moment. Shinji prepared to finish off his opponent. Clasping Unit 01's left hand around his right wrist, Shinji concentrated his AT Field's power into his right hand. Normally he knew this wouldn't be possible, but for some reason, he felt as if he could defeat a thousand Angels at once. "AT… CANNON!" Shinji yelled before a burst of energy flew out of the EVA's hands and aimed directly at the black EVA.

"NO! THIS CAN'T BE! I CAN'T BE BEATEN!" the dark man yelled as he was struck by the power of Unit 01. "NOOOOOO!" was the final word said from him as the blast disintegrated his entire body in one blast before going out with a large explosion.

Once Shinji was assured his opponent was beaten and his dark manipulations silenced forever, he allowed his body to relax. And as he did, he felt his EVA fade away and him back on terra firma. Looking ahead, he saw his former friend Kaowru in front of him clapping slowly in applause.

"Well done my friend," Kaowru stated. "Above all else, you chose that trying to bond and integrate with people is better than living a life of recluse and solitude. And by doing that, you have passed the test I put before you."

"What?" Shinji replied in shock. He couldn't believe it! "All that was just a test? You have any idea what I went through?"

"I understand that it was not a pleasant experience," Kaowru said in defense. "But it was very necessary that your mind and soul be cleansed of any doubt you had before we send you to face Topolov back on Earth."

"I see," Shinji bowed his head. "So we have to go back and relive that nightmare too."

"Do not despair." Kaowru put his hand on Shinji's shoulder. "By passing this test, I can have absolute faith that you and Miss Sohryu will succeed in stopping his evil plans once and for all."

The boy raised his head back up, with a weak smile. "I hope so. Where is Asuka by the way?"

"I believe she has just finished her test as well, and I'll bet she is waiting for us. Shall I take you to her?"

"Yes, please do that," Shinji requested.

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NERV Berlin – Situation apparently isn't getting much better

"This situation isn't getting any better," said Misato to Commander Henkel. "We only have just over five more days until Topolov comes to finish what he started." She along with NERV Berlin's commander looked on as the kids practiced their melee training skills. They were doing their very best but as they were now, they were in no condition to challenge Unit 10 and its godlike powers.

"Nonetheless, we're going to take the chance that Topolov's arrogance has offered us," Henkel replied. He was obviously worried too that Zack, Elly, and Rei would stand no chance against Vladimir. But for the sake of preserving the facility's morale, he had to appear strong. "It may appear hopeless but not impossible." He then changed the subject. "Speaking of which, how is Ivana doing?"

"Apparently the doctors wanted to take a look at her again, which they did earlier that day." Crossing her arms and taking a deep breath, she continued. "Her condition is improving much faster than originally thought, she says she's feeling much better than she should, and Ritsuko pondered if Ivana was completely misdiagnosed."

Henkel was surprised, but gladdened by the good news. "If that is the case, then she may be able to be within acceptable guidelines to be combat ready in five days."

"We can only hope. If so with Ivana's knowledge of Vladimir's combat capabilities, and with what know somewhat of his combat potential, our odds of survival will improve. That and we can outnumber him four to one once more."

Off to the side, a courier entered into the large room where the kids and officers were present. He approached Commander Henkel and saluted as he stood before him and Misato. Henkel spoke to the soldier. "Do you have something to report soldier?"

"Yes sir. I have a message for both you and the Director of Operations," the courier answered. Turning towards Misato, he delivered the message intended for her. "Ma'am, Dr. Akagi's hunch about Pilot Kharlamov's diagnosis was correct. Her injuries are not as serious as initially intended. If all is well, she may be combat ready in five days."

Ivana heard the message and looked over. "Are you serious?" The others also looked over in response to Ivana's interjection.

"Apparently so Ivana," said Misato, the smile growing on her face slowly. "But we'll have to confer then with Rits to know the specifics. But with the way things are looking, you may have a chance to be able to get back out there and give that bastard the asshole ripping he deserves."

Ivana mirrored Misato's smile. "That would be a chance I would be greatly honoured to have. I will make him pay for what he has done."

Henkel now spoke. "And what was the other message soldier?"

"Apparently, we found a man outside the city limits recently sir," the soldier said. "He was spotted approaching a checkpoint. Upon apprehension, he said he was loyal to the former Russian government and he requests an audience with you sir." He looked back behind him for a moment to the doorway he had come through and then faced Henkel once more. "Shall I bring him in sir?"

Henkel nodded. "Yes please do. If he has something important to say, I would like to hear it." He watched the soldier walk off and leave the room. He returned a minute later with a much larger man following him. To Joachim Henkel, the man looked familiar, but couldn't place a name to his face.

"Ah Joachim, it's great to see you again," the blonde man spoke with a soft Russian accent. "Especially with the circumstances as they are now."

Now that he had heard the man's voice, Henkel recognized the man's voice. "Indeed Sergei. I'm surprised you managed to make it here to Germany, let alone make it out of Topolov's clutches alive."

Ivana was shocked and completely surprised to see her former mentor Sergei Berezov standing before her. The fact that he had survived the siege of Russia warmed her heart intently. Although Sergei looked like hell, given his torn clothes and the cuts on his face, his blonde hair and blue eyes still reflected the tough but kind man she once knew and respected. Sergei turned towards Ivana to acknowledge his former student.

"_Good to see you again Ivana,"_ Sergei stated to her in Russian. _"Looks like we've got a lot of work to do to stop that madman."_

A/N: I was literally held hostage by this chapter. Got stuck in a rut and I couldn't escape. Hopefully I won't fall into another one anytime soon. As I was saying to a friend, all my ideas are in the future and not in the present. Now I plan to move forward into that future. I also plan to do a story on fictionpress (which stars a somewhat familiar face), so be sure to look there in the coming weeks as well.

Until 73, be cool!


	73. Project V Part 9: Heart's On Fire

A/N: Well I definitely feel glad to be back in the game. With 72 up, I feel like a great weight has been taken off my back. Let's keep the ball rolling! Our heroes need to be prepared!

_Sometimes, the very thing you consider your greatest asset is also your greatest burden._

NERV Berlin

"What? Are you kidding me?" Misato shouted at NERV Berlin's latest guest: Russian General Sergei Berezov. She was not pleased at all by his revelation. "How in the world can someone under any circumstance have a perfect sync ratio all the time every time?"

"I apologize Major," Sergei responded. "But I do not lie. I don't know how it happened or what Topolov discovered. But I can confirm beyond a reasonable doubt that Vladimir while in EVA always has a perfect sync ratio."

They were all in a meeting room in NERV Berlin. The parties present consisted of Sergei Berezov, Misato, Ritsuko Akagi, her assistant Maya Ibuki, Commander Joachim Henkel, and the four EVA pilots: Zack, Ivana, Rei, and Elly. Sergei had just revealed what had likely been the secret behind Vladimir's power. The likely explanation for Vladimir's combat superiority had been that from the start of the fight to the end of it was that for reasons not even Sergei could explain, Vladimir always had a perfect 100 sync ratio which made his EVA faster, stronger, and above all more powerful.

"So, you were saying he had our number right off the get-go and he was destined to kick our capitalist asses?" Zack chimed in.

"That apparently is correct," said Sergei. "But on the positive note, you kids now know at the very least that your opponent will always be more powerful than you. But just because something is more powerful, does not mean it is invincible."

"Oh that's just fabulous," Elly put in. "So in six or so days, we're gonna become bowling pins for a teenage nutcase who probably got rejected too many times."

"Don't be so pessimistic Elly," Misato countered. "General Berezov here is the one who **trained** Vladimir and taught him everything he knows. And I can bet that he will be willing to teach you everything he knows." Misato looked at Sergei, "Would you teach these kids? We could definitely appreciate any assistance you can offer."

"Ma'am, I came here with the intention of stopping my former student," Sergei answered. "He has become drunk on his power and ambition, and it's moulded him into a psychopath. Yes I will do my absolute best to prepare these kids for what they will have to face."

Joachim allowed himself a smile. "Hmm, then that will increase our fortunes somewhat. Anything you can do to improve our odds of stopping Topolov and saving the world would be greatly appreciated Sergei."

"Then I guess we have a lot of work to do, and very little time to do it." Sergei stood up. "Alright kids, we meet back in the training room within the hour. I'll see you all there." And with that, Berezov had left the boardroom.

"In the meantime, Maya and I will look over the data on Unit 10," said Ritsuko. "There may be something in the data that we don't know about that may reveal a weakness." Ritsuko took one look at the pilots. "Train hard kids, we're counting on you." She then followed Maya out of the room.

Misato then took charge and gave the kids their instructions. "All right, you four can rest for an hour, and then you're to meet back in the training room. Like Rits here, we're all counting on you and we believe in you. You're dismissed."

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Still catching her breath from the earlier experience she had to deal with, Asuka waited patiently with Lilith for Shinji and Kaworu to return. But her patience was unfortunately going to be running thin quickly. "Come on. How much longer is this going to take?" she asked no one in particular.

"It will take as long as it needs to take," Lilith decided to answer. "Perhaps it would do you some good to have faith in your love."

"I do obviously," Asuka countered right back. "But even for a guy he's sure taking a while. Well this IS Shinji we're talking about. So maybe it's understandable to some extent." She sat down on the clouded surface with a sigh. "Being dead is boring. There's nothing to do up here."

A flash of light caught the German girl's attention. To her relief, ten feet in front of her was the two people she was waiting for to appear: Kaworu and Shinji. "About time you got back," Asuka said to Shinji as she now stood back up.

"Sorry."

"Hey, just because you're dead doesn't mean you get to apologize like crazy. You'll drive me nuts." Asuka turned to Kaworu. "So now what do we do now that we've passed our tests? Do we sit tight until we're called upon?"

"That is the case," Kaworu stated. "In approximately six of your days, the time will be for you to return and carry out what needs to be done. In the meantime, enjoy what the Kingdom of Heaven has to offer you. If you're curious as how to explore, just imagine where you want to be, and that shall be done. For now, farewell." With that, he and Lilith faded out of sight.

"So, what do we do then Asuka?" Shinji wondered as the two stood alone on the open plains. "We've got six days to do whatever."

"Well then Shinji, maybe they got something to eat up here perhaps," Asuka wondered. "Do dead people even get hungry though?"

"We can probably eat as much as we want I would assume," Shinji put in. "I doubt eating like a glutton would really affect us since we don't really have bodies anymore." He bowed his head down at the thought. "It's been about a day and a half since we died. Our bodies are probably beyond use by now, let alone if they haven't been cremated already."

"Well instead of being so pessimistic, why not try being optimistic, and see if this place has anything to eat!" Asuka grabbed Shinji's hand. "Now like Fruityboy said, let's imagine a place to eat and we should find one."

Both of them closed their eyes and tried to imagine a high class restaurant where the highest quality food and beverages would be provided. When they opened their eyes, they quickly realized what Kaworu had said was true. In front of the two pilots was the largest, classiest restaurant the two of them had ever seen. "Bingo!" Asuka declared. "That's what I'm talking about!" Pulling Shinji along, they walked up to the restaurant in search of food.

Shinji was slightly hesitant. "Asuka, we don't have any money. How are we gonna pay for all the food we eat?"

"Come on!" Asuka bellowed. "I think the guy who runs the show up here is probably above cheap coin and tender. He probably just has to think about food and he can get it. So I don't think there's a problem. I'm sure it'll be fine." And without further complaint from Shinji, like he had a choice in the matter, the two dead pilots went inside.

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Russian Camp

Vladimir looked at the situation before him. Five grown men, each armed with a sword stared him down, aiming to kill the teenage pilot. Vladimir himself was holding his favourite weapon: his specially modified scythe. Rumours were going around that the EVA pilots he had beaten before, along with the two that intervened were going to make a stand against him, foolishly ignoring his demand for a global surrender. So it would be wise to begin preparing himself for battle. In the upcoming second battle he knew they would be ready for him, so he would begin seriously training himself to

"Alright," Vladimir said to the men, who were actually prisoners who had been rounded up by the army. "If you are successful at killing me, then you will be set free. And if you are not, you will die." He gave them a wicked grin followed by an evil laugh. He could see them trembling deep inside with pure terror. But this was just all fun and games to Vladimir. A simple warm-up exercise before he resumed his training. "Come and get me… if you dare." He twirled his scythe once and prepared to kill them all.

With a cry that sounded neither human nor animal, Vladimir lunged at the first person in front of him. Before the prisoner could even react, Vladimir had brought the long curved blade of his scythe through the man's left shoulder and out through the right side of his waist. As the man fell apart, blood spilled out everywhere, most of it falling on the floor, some of it ending up on Vladimir's face. In the minds of the others, he looked even scarier with blood on his face on top of his already insane facial gesture.

The prisoner off to Vladimir's right saw his opportunity and went for it. Bringing his sword up for an overhead cleave he was quickly stopped by Vladimir bringing the scythe up to block the attack. And now Vladimir had another one coming to his left closing in. Vladimir used his strength enhanced by his dark powers to kick the first person away to face down the third person for a quick kill. Using his left hand, he apparently looked like he was trying to twist the shaft of his scythe. A clicking sound was heard and a hidden spear emerged from the other end of the scythe. With another scream, he caught the third man by surprise and plunged the spear right into his neck, stunning and mortally wounding the prisoner.

Vladimir knew the second man would attack again. Wildly bringing his scythe back around him, he tucked away the spear and in the process decapitated the third man, turning his throat into a blood dispenser and attacked the second man in the same swing. Luckily the second man blocked the wild assault. Vladimir could hear the other two planning to surround him and cut him off. It was time to end this before it got out of hand. Concentrating deep within, he allowed his power which was fueled by his hatred, his anger towards those who he believed wronged him and those who simply got in his way, to consume him.

The prisoners became slightly hesitant and stepped back when a black and orange aura began to surround the boy. The look on his face became more and more maniacal with each passing second. Vladimir then suddenly jump up high in the air, and with another scream of evil, scythe extended out, began to spin rapidly. What was even more surprising was that he began hurtling black and orange ring shaped projectiles each and every way. The men had no chance against a power of this magnitude. The rings ripped and tore through their bodies like a hot knife through butter. Vladimir then ceased his attack and landed back on terra firma to observe his surroundings. The remaining prisoners, as Vladimir had hoped had been ripped to pieces. Blood, and pieces of human tissue had now littered the floor, and the room was beginning to smell like what was on the floor. But to Vladimir, that smell of blood and tissue made him want to keep on fighting. Continuing to look around, he noticed his dark rings had also ripped holes in the training room walls, signifying a powerful, merciless, widespread attack. Looking at his scythe, it was clearly covered in blood, the blood of the weak and pathetic. A guard who then walked into the room caught Vladimir's eye. Wishing to kill more people and increase his training intensity, he turned his attention to the guard. "You there soldier, Bring in some more prisoners."

"How many my lord?" the guard asked.

"Bring out ten this time," Vladimir answered. "Five men and five women. If you want to bring out any children as extras, that is up to you. And make sure they are all armed. Killing someone isn't fun if they can't fight back."

"It will be done my lord." The guard bowed and left to carry out his master's wishes.

Once the guard left, Vladimir removed the glove on his right hand and observed the mark on the back of his hand. The mark consisted of three sixes in the shape of a triangle. His master said it represented three important entities or something along those lines. To Vladimir's disappointment, only one of the sixes would glow. One of the points of this training was to try and get the other sixes to eventually glow. He could feel the power within waiting to be released. But unlocking the gate to achieving the power beyond was a mystery to him, as his master never told him how, nor was likely to tell him how. So Vladimir decided that through concentrating and mastering the power he currently had, that it would be the best way to unlock his hidden powers. He noted though, that he sometimes felt a little strange when unleashing this power. Sometimes he could feel the presence of something sleeping deep within him. He tended to brush it off as his human body getting used to using a divine power.

Unbeknownst to Vladimir or anyone else, another person was watching from the shadows, monitoring his progress with great interest. He watched as Vladimir prepared himself for another round of slaughter. More lives for him to feed on. The boy's ideologue was that all life would exist to feed his power. And that was exactly what the one in the shadows wanted to happen: for Vladimir to continue to feed his power by taking innocent lives.

'Soon my boy. Soon by your own hands you shall set him free.'

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The two teens Shinji and Asuka stood out somewhat amongst the other patrons and workers in the restaurant, them still being in their plugsuits while everyone else was apparently wearing golden coloured robes and having large white wings. But nobody seemed to care or worry that two different looking people were amongst them. Above all else, Asuka was definitely enjoying herself. "Now this is what I'm talking about!" Asuka stated right before she stuffed a piece of steak in her mouth. "Free food, free drinks, free… luxury period! If only people knew the benefits of being good back on earth! Maybe if we get the chance when we return we'll tell everyone why being good is better than being a dumb ass!" The two former EVA pilots had through the power of belief located a restaurant which was frequented by the other dead inhabitants of Heaven. Since there was no such thing as money in a divine world, food and beverage was free and one could have as much as they wished. Asuka was helping herself to a tasty striploin steak with mashed potatoes, a small assortment of veggies and vodka cooler to drink.

"Asuka, it's rude to talk with your mouth full," Shinji quietly reminded her. He had a sandwich of Angus steak and an assortment of veggies in front of him with a glass of orange juice. "And even if we told them, what would make them believe us?"

"Why are you asking me? Do I look like a preacher at all?" She took a sip of her cooler. "Whether they believe us, whether they don't believe us is up to them. If I ever got the chance to talk to the others, I'd say shape up because it's hot enough down below to make any sort of global warming look like a cold winter day. Heck if you ever get to see your father again, tell him to start doing his rosaries every night before he goes to bed."

"Rosaries?" Shinji had heard of a rosary and knew it was connected to a Western religion. But its purpose eluded the boy. And it was up to Asuka to do some educating.

"It's a Catholic ritual," Asuka went on. "My mother used to do this with me before the… incident. You repeat this short prayer about ten times or so. And if you want, you can repeat the process several times according to the amount of beads on the rosary."

"You were religious?"

Asuka sighed out loud. "I was yes at one time. But after I lost my mother, I didn't know what to think. I asked myself, what kind of a God takes a mother away from his child. And that altered my outlook on life itself. But now I realize my mother was with me the whole time, giving me what I needed to save the world from imminent destruction. And now this one in who knows what chance is more than enough to make anyone believe."

Shinji was listening intently, curious about his girlfriend's views. "So what do you think now Asuka?"

"Well it's still a bit of a shock, but now it's settling in. Perhaps all this certainty's helping my mind be at ease. Makes you think someone up here loves you indeed." Once she finished her lunch, she still wanted to eat. "So are you up for another round of food?"

"I guess so. It's not everyday we can eat food like this."

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NERV Berlin

Not having much to do, nor feeling any urge to eat, Zack Harper, the Sixth Child and the one likely leading the charge against Vladimir Topolov in less than six days found himself wandering the halls of the military facility, not totally knowing where he was going due to his inability to read German. Looking in front of him, he saw a sign that said 'Büro des Kommandanten'. Not in any way knowing what it meant, he began to wander down another hallway. He and the others had finished training with Sergei for the day. It was an intense session as it focused on knowledge of the scythe as a weapon and some basic defenses against certain attacks Vladimir was likely to make. As he walked past the people he would come across, he reflected back to when he first arrived. People observed him initially as a troublemaker who liked to crack crude jokes and make offhanded remarks. Instead of contempt and suspicion, in their eyes now he saw concern, fear and the look that says 'we're counting on you'. They had all the reasons to give those looks, because if the EVA pilots failed to stop Unit 10, there would be no stopping him. The world would literally be in Topolov's grasp. And he would enslave and likely wipe out mankind, or maybe even trigger some sort of Fourth Impact.

As he continued to pace, Zack thought to himself how he would differently combat someone who was statistically superior to you in every possible way: strength, speed, aggressiveness and endurance. According to what the Russian General Sergei Berezov had said, Vladimir's sync under any and all circumstances was always 100 percent. Zack himself could manage somewhere in the low seventies, while he knew Rei could hit 75, at least in her former half-Angel state, Elly kept her score around the high sixties, and Ivana in the high seventies. Since Vladimir would have the best synchronization, he would always be better as the EVA would be able to respond to him at its fullest potential. Zack, having experienced the 100 percent synchronization once in his life, knew what kind of power was there at the fingertips.

But then something hit him. When Zack attained 100 percent synchronization, it was powerful nonetheless. But Zack remembered when he fought the 6th Black Angel, having that much power was incredibly taxing on his body and mind. By the time he finished off the demon, he had felt physically and mentally exhausted. The question that rang in his mind, was how come Vladimir who fought constantly with a perfect synchronization not feel tired or exhausted after over an hour of highly intense combat? If Zack recalled correctly, Vladimir was still willing to keep going when Elly and Rei showed up to help. Being significantly outnumbered and outgunned seemed to be the one thing that scared him off.

Regardless of how many times he went over it in his mind, something still didn't feel right. And the more he thought about it, the more he tended to confuse himself. As he continued to pace through the hallways, he came across an open door. Looking inside, he his well endowed girlfriend Elly sitting down on the edge of her bed apparently lost in her own thoughts. Zack saw this as a good chance to apologize for the way he was speaking to her earlier and commenced his attempt with a knock on the door.

Hearing the knock, Elly looked up to see who it was and looked right into the eyes of Zack. "What do ya want?" she asked.

"Can I come in?" Zack asked right back. "I just want to talk."

"All right, come on in." Elly shuffled over to make room for him to sit down. Once he sat down next to her, she went on. "So what do you want to talk about?" Her tone was closer to monotone, as she was still hurt by his harshness from earlier.

"I just wanted to say…" he found his face looking at the floor, unable to look her in the eyes. "…I'm sorry for the way I was behaving earlier. I shouldn't have acted like that."

"Zack," Elly began as she put an arm around him, "It's okay. I understand why you're hurting inside. I can't begin to fathom how much pain you're in. But I want you to know something though. Can you look at me for a second?" He slowly met her demand and they locked eyes. "What you need to know is that you don't need to carry the burden of their deaths on your own okay? We're more than willing to help you and Ivana carry that burden. It's not your fault that Shinji and Asuka died. If anything, it's Vladimir's fault and only his fault."

"Are you sure?" Zack asked her with great concern. "It will be incredibly dangerous and I doubt I'll be able to protect you like I did against the 6th Black Angel."

"Hey I'm an EVA pilot and I've had combat training." Elly's face slowly showed confidence. "I think above all else I can at least look after myself out there and I won't go down without a fight. And I'll never live it down if I don't do what I can to save the world." She slowly brought Zack into her hug, leaning her head against his chest. "And best of all, is that we'll save the world together. With Sergei teaching us and telling us everything he can tell us about Vladimir, I'm sure we're gonna win."

Zack returned her feelings and wrapped his arms around her, caressing her hair gently. "Yeah. You're right. This battle is ours to win. And once Doc Akagi figures out his weakness, Vladimir's gonna regret messing with us and with capitalism!"

Elly pulled back to look Zack in the face again. "Now there's the Zack I know and love. The Zack that loves capitalism and will fight those that oppose it, and save the world doing so. And you don't have to worry about a thing, because you, me, Ivana and Rei are gonna help us. And with Misato and Ritsuko playing offensive and defensive coordinators, we've got everything we need."

"That's right," a voice interjected. "You should be a motivational speaker Elly. You hit it right on the button." Elly and Zack both looked over to the doorway to see Misato, Ivana, and Rei watching them. Misato was the one who had spoken and she went on. "We got some excellent news regarding how to defeat Vladimir Topolov and we wanted to find you first before we share the information.

Zack motioned to a bed opposite Elly and himself. "Well let's hear it then. If there's a way to mop the floor with that bastard, I wanna hear it."

Misato, Ivana, and Rei sat down on the other bed. Misato was holding some papers in her hand which likely held the answer all of them were seeking. Without further delay, she revealed the paper's contents. "With the research Ritsuko and Maya did all of today, they think they may have found a crack in Vladimir's armour."

"What? Really?" Elly seemed excited. "What is it exactly?"

Misato wasn't totally sure how to put this in an answer that would be easily explained. "Hmm, how to put this in easy terms, okay let's try this. Have you noticed that when your sync ratio was higher than normal, you felt more attached to the EVA than you normally would be?"

"That's standard," said Rei. "When one opens their mind to the EVA, it allows them to feel what the EVA feels. The more the mind is open, the stronger the connection is."

"That's about right," Misato went on. "Anyhow, we focused on the fact that Vladimir's sync ratio is always a perfect 100 percent. So Ritsuko deduced that at all times Vladimir's mind is always perfectly open to the EVA. So Vladimir will directly feel what his EVA is feeling at all times."

"So that means when the backup arrived, he fled because he could sustain serious injury?" Ivana inquired.

"Exactly," Misato answered. "Even with the argument that Vladimir has an AT Field, all Zack, Elly, or Rei had to do was raise theirs and negate his, and he becomes vulnerable. With just four EVAs, he had no fear of injury or damage at all. But with three EVAs and a squadron of fighters and bombers staring you down, you are in some degree of trouble. Hence why he had no choice but to abandon the battle and flee."

Zack had a question for Misato. "So every injury we manage to inflict on him, he feels every bit of it?"

Misato gave him the thumbs up. "Exactly. And that's how Sergei says we're gonna beat him. By making all the damage add up by applying counter attacks and defensive maneuvers. He's all powerful yes, but FAR from invincible. Last time, he had fear, surprise, and intimidation on his side. This time around, he has none of it. And he won't realize he's beat until it's too late. Then we got him."

Misato then stood up. "So kids, are we all ready to kick his sorry ass, and make him pay for what he did to Shinji and Asuka?" She extended her right hand into the center, hoping to get the others' support.

"The darkness that once lurked in our souls, has vanquished," Rei said. "We will take back our destiny." She placed her hand atop Misato's.

Elly went next. "It's time to even up the score, and then win the war!" Her hand went atop Rei's.

Ivana took her turn. "Time is short, but despite that we will not go down quietly and die. We will not be broken again." She put her hand in the center, taking its place on Elly's hand.

"Shinji and Asuka's death is what fuels us. It's our passion which shall be our weapon. We're gonna get justice for them, no matter what the cost!" Zack declared. And he put his hand on Elly's.

Now all of them had their hands in the middle. Misato then gave a big shout, "For Shinji and Asuka!"

The others responded, echoing what the Major had just said, "FOR SHINJI AND ASUKA!" and they all raised their hands into the air in agreement.

Each one's resolve and to save the world had all been restored. In their hearts lurked a fire, a fire that would rage on despite whatever would be lurking for them in just over five days. But they would be ready for it, and they were going to win. Losing was not an option, nor a worst case scenario. Losing wasn't even considered. And over the next five days, the four EVA pilots spent their hours eating, resting, and training with Sergei Berezov. Berezov, being the one who had trained Vladimir before, knew exactly what the teenage psychopath was capable of. He knew Vladimir's strengths, weaknesses, his persona, his combat capabilities, and combat movements. And so Zack, Elly, Rei, and Ivana would practice and train so they would be able to combat his deadly prowess. And not once during those five days did they shake or waver in their desire to win. They may have had problems during that time, but with all of them supporting each other, they would help the fallen with whatever problem they may have had. Their determination to win overrode all other thoughts and desires.

If Vladimir were to think at this very moment that their resolve was still broken, **he would be dead wrong**.

Translations

Büro des Kommandanten Office of the Commander

A/N: Woohoo! I got my groove back! Do not fret, for there will be no more delay. The moment of truth commences next chapter, where our heroes will attempt to exact their revenge for the deaths of Shinji and Asuka. But are they truly ready for what lies around the corner?

A/O/N: The song I used for inspiration in this chapter is John Cafferty's Hearts on Fire. I thank him for making such a cool song.

Until 74, be cool!


	74. Project V Part 10: Judgment Day

A/N: I'm sure you've noticed that I've stated that I will revamp the first 45 chapters or so. It's something I now do when I have spare time and something that will go full blown once the Project V saga is finished. So basically this story may go on hold while I make some edits here and there. UNLESS I get one hell of an inspiration that makes me continue the story. I apologize if this puts anyone in a severe state of agony, but it must be done.

A/O/N: Well here we are. I kid you not; there will be no more interruptions or fillers. Judgment Day is here. Can our heroes survive what will be hell?

"You know Zack, Misato's gonna kill you right?" a girl with an Australian accent softly asked.

"She wouldn't dare Elly," a boy's voice said in response. "Especially since I'll be needed today to help take on Captain Commie-Bastard."

It was an early November morning at NERV HQ in Berlin Germany. While most people were likely on edge for the day's impending battle, two of the four EVA pilots, namely Zack Harper and Elly Simpson were spending the morning sharing a very intimate moment. Perhaps too intimate for some people's tastes as Elly lay naked atop Zack, covered only by a blanket.

"You know Misato and her attitudes towards sex," Elly went on after she kissed his forehead, "Complete hypocrite towards everyone else's sex lives yet completely rampant herself. That and it doesn't matter if you're gonna go save the world, she'll kick your ass afterwards just because you had to go and break her golden rule."

"Well we'll just have to make sure she doesn't find out this time don't we?" Zack came back. "We did do the bad thing this night and neither she nor nobody else took notice."

"And that's good," Elly sighed as she rolled off Zack and lay beside him, pulling the cover up over her large breasts to her shoulders to stay warm. "I'm glad we got to have this moment, knowing what's out there waiting for us." She looked over at him with a tired but loving look in her eyes. "Thanks Zack."

"Anything for my princess," he replied after kissing her gently. A thought then came to Zack. "I think I now know why Vladimir is so angry."

Elly raised a brow in curiosity. "Why's that?"

"He's never been laid."

"That'd do it."

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Outside NERV HQ

Sleeping was the last thing on Rei Ayanami's mind. If she could, Rei probably would wish to go into battle now and end this game of waiting. However, she knew deep down that waiting was indeed the wisest thing they could do now, knowing what waited on the horizon. The longer they could delay this battle, the better prepared the Allied Forces would be to repel the Russian advance.

Standing outside, clad in her pajamas and a raincoat, she stared up at the sky in hopes of seeing the sun rise. But to much dismay the sky was still blanketed by large grey clouds, the same clouds that had been up in the sky for the last seven days.

'The time is near,' Rei said to herself. 'I have spent the last seven days doing nothing but prepare for this day. The day we must face Topolov and his Evangelion.' Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out Shinji's SDAT player. Shinji and his girlfriend Asuka, whose deaths were her motivation for wanting to enter battle against the Russian teenager. Regardless of what orders were given, she would battle the boy no matter what and give it everything her body and mind would allow her to give.

"Shinji… Asuka… your deaths will not be in vain," she said quietly although with a very angry tone. "Mark my words; Vladimir Topolov is going to pay."

Right as the words came out of her mouth, she stepped back in shock. The phrase had come out of her mouth in a way she didn't expect it. "Did I just say that?" she asked herself. "Is that what it's like to be angry?"

_And so you continue to discover more and more what it's like to be human._

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Later That Morning – Briefing Room

"Admit it, you're afraid," Elly jabbed at Zack.

"I am not," Zack replied back.

"Come on Zack, there's no shame in admitting it."

"Elly, for the last time, I'm not afraid. If anything, I'm pissed."

Today was the day. The day of reckoning for the world. The day many people around the world were calling Judgment Day. All around the world, people were bracing for this conflict. The world had been put on hold by those who aligned with darkness, threatening the lives of anyone and everyone with the threat of death should they refuse to give in to its apparently superior power and military might.

But in the past few days, rays of hope had been piercing through the dark clouds that blocked out the light. In a matter of pathetic fallacy, the weather was complimenting the situation quite well. For the past seven days, no one had seen the sun, it being blocked out by thick dark clouds. On another issue, many of the UN General Assembly members absolutely refused Russia's call for a global surrender. Many smaller countries such as Canada, Spain, Italy, and Japan and were even sending military supplies and soldiers to assist the Allied forces amassing in Germany to hold off the Russian invasion force. And the more powerful members who consisted of the United States, United Kingdom, and France (reluctantly) were possibly considering an invasion into Russia directly to strike at the political heart of this malicious campaign.

While the other countries were involved fighting the ground war, NERV would spend most of its efforts coordinating the EVAs that would assist in the campaign, along with its top priority which was to locate and stop Evangelion Unit 10 and its very insane pilot Vladimir Topolov at all costs. Rei Ayanami, Zack Harper, Ivana Kharlamov, and Elly Simpson were trained and readily prepared for the attack that would be today. But until the time had arrived, they were all waiting orders in the briefing room, suited up and ready to go.

"Aww, why pissed?" Elly inquired.

Zack explained, "Well let's see, one because we got one nasty motherfucker to face today, two because the motherfucker in question killed two of our friends, and three because the motherfucker in question is going to be a fucking pain in the asshole to kill."

"Indeed. We have a very difficult battle ahead of us," Rei put in. "Regrettably, many lives will be lost in this coming battle and in the future battles that will be soon to follow."

"Well we just try not to think of that, remember all that stuff Sergei taught us and it should be smooth sailing," Zack said with a grin. "And then before we kill him, we make him say he's sorry for killing Shinji and Asuka, and have him beg for our mercy, and then we…"

"Let's not get carried away," Ivana cut Zack off. "Don't forget how skilled he actually is. Taking him on will not be an easy task."

Zack frowned, "Thanks for spoiling my fun. It may be the last time we get to have fun. Your ex doesn't know the meaning of the word 'fun'. The only things he knows are death, blood, carnage, and a few swear words."

"That's exactly right Casanova, and that is the reason why we need to stop him now," Misato interjected as she entered the room. She took a seat and spoke to the pilots. "Sorry about the wait, but I had to go over the final plans with Commander Henkel and give a report to Commander Ikari."

"Ikari?" Zack chimed. "The big boss himself is here in Germany?"

"Oh he is," Misato replied. "More or less to oversee how things are first hand and more or less to cheer you four on."

"One Euro says more so to see how things are and less to cheer us on," Zack came back; completely unaware that the man they were talking about had just entered the room.

"Then you are out one Euro," Gendo Ikari quickly interjected, his authoritative voice grabbing everyone's attention. Once he had everyone's attention he continued to speak. "First let me say that I am indeed very proud of you four for your incredible resolve in the wake of such a devious threat. And regardless of what happens out there today, as long as you give it your all, you will not be considered failures, but heroes who chose to stand their grounds against all odds." He took a pause before he went on. "And I understand that you have been taking preparative measures to actually win this am I correct?"

"Yes," Ivana answered. "We've spent the last five days preparing ourselves for this battle. We've learned everything we can about Topolov, and we know that there are cracks in his armour that will be exploited."

"Good," Gendo said with a small smile growing on his face. "Then you all know what you have to do. Defeat Vladimir Topolov at ALL costs."

"Yes sir!" the four pilots replied all at once.

"I will leave you to your own biddings for now. The time to battle is likely in no less than three hours. I wish you the best." And with that, Gendo Ikari left the briefing room possibly to rejoin with Commander Henkel regarding the war efforts.

Once Gendo left, Misato took the stage once more. "You heard the man. I want you four back here within three hours because from that point on, it will be battle. Use this time to converse with each other, go confess, or just enjoy each other's company until that time." She saluted them. "You four are dismissed."  
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Russian Camp

Vladimir looked at his EVA standing in the launching bay. Soon it would be time to contact the world leaders to for one final chance to meet his demand for a global surrender. And if they were still foolish enough to resist his demands, he would eliminate every last person who would stand in his way, and pave the way for a destined Fourth Impact.

A thought came to him though. He would be hopelessly outnumbered in this upcoming battle. Just about every country out there would be aligned against him. Even with his new powers, it would be an uphill battle that would be difficult even with him leading the charge.

As if someone sensed his concerns, a voice appeared behind him. "Are you concerned about something young one?"

Vladimir turned around to face his master, the one who had given him his blessing and powers that he currently possessed. Vladimir knelt down on one knee and spoke. "Yes, I am concerned about our army's size in comparison to the Allied Forces' army. Obtaining Unit 01 under the current circumstances will be immensely difficult because we're outnumbered at least ten to one."

"Ah indeed you will be outnumbered," the dark man replied. "I have serious doubts the world will adhere to our demands for a global surrender. So the right amount of infantry and supplies will be required. So I have thought ahead and requested the assistance of a few rogue nations to assist us in attaining our goals."

"Hmm, what nations are working with us?" Vladimir wondered curiously.

"Assisting our cause, and with a little SEELE influence and bribery, we have enlisted the nations of North Korea and Iran to fight alongside us in exchange for vast amounts of money and the supplies to build nuclear reactors to assist their country's economic growth," the man explained. "Having been deprived of their rights to prosper like the Westerners have, they are eager for an opportunity to stick one to those who have spent decades oppressing them on an international scale and holding them back for so long."

"Ah, North Korea and Iran," Vladimir said aloud. "They've indeed spent far too long being held back by those who disagree with their ideologues. They are wise to seize the opportunity as it lies before them. And with me leading the charge, no one stands a chance against us."

"That's the spirit my boy," the man said. "With that belief, surely you shall do my bidding and go bring about 4th Impact. With it, comes prosperity for those who follow us, and death and destruction for those that oppose us with their foolish beliefs." He paused a moment before finishing. "I must warn you though, do not underestimate what you are up against. Napoleon, Hitler, and the British of old made the same mistakes and it cost them dearly."

"Yes sir. Thank you sir." Vladimir bowed to the man. "I will not let you down. Failure will not be an option."

"You are wise to know that immediately my boy. Indeed I will not tolerate failure." He motioned to Unit 10 in the background. "Utilize what you have, go forth and do my bidding. Your success today will guarantee you a position in my higher council."

Vladimir had one final question. "And if Russia and the others fall, how much impact will it have on our plans?"

"I advise you, Vladimir not to worry about what happens to Russia or the other countries," the man answered. "If they fall, they fall. It will be trivial as long as our main objective is complete. They will just simply learn a little faster what the price of failure really is."

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NERV HQ – Air Strips

"_Whoa, I never thought there'd be army guys from this many countries_," Elly exclaimed at the sight before her.

"_Well nobody with a capitalist mind wants to see their world's taken over_," Zack replied. "_We business people take our business very seriously. And we deal serious business to anyone who dares mess with our business_."

In their spare time, Zack and Elly decided to tour the airstrips before the battle would commence. Indeed many countries from all over the world were making their own contributions to the war effort to stop the maniacs that were approaching. And at the moment with his arm around his girlfriend, the two were looking for the Canadian Forces Air Command and the Royal Australian Air Force.

"_Well over there, that looks like the Danish air force_," Zack pointed out at one squad that they passed by. "_I guess they didn't take too lightly to being bullied by Russia, so they sent an air force to help us out_. _I wonder if the French air force is here at all, knowing their attitudes regarding wars_."

"_Over there,_" Elly called out excitedly, pointing over to the other side. On the other side, there were another set of air strips, where fighter jets bearing the French flag were stationed. "_Looks like someone threatened their wine supply. So they decided that their wine is more important then their wild sex and their smug attitudes,_" she giggled at her remark.

"_Well I guess eventually everyone has something that will propel them into war._ _I think the Canadian Forces Air Command are just a bit further down_," Zack noted, spotting some familiar looking aircraft. Taking Elly's hand, the two raced down to see the Canadian army preparing themselves for what was on the horizon.

"_Well I'll be damned_," Zack stated. "_The Canucks have declared war again_. _Now I wonder where the anti-war protesters are since we are not supposed to be interfering in the affairs of another country, so they say._"

"_I'll bet they couldn't land in Germany so they're protesting in another country FAR away from where all the action is going down_," Elly chirped. "_Why can't they go drink beer or play hockey and leave the real dirty work up to those who want to do it_?"

"_Who knows? This is Generation-I don't forget_," Zack went on. "_Self interests nowadays come above all else_." Shifting their attention away from the anti-war effort, they focused on the Canadian soldiers checking on their aircraft making sure it was combat ready. "_I feel sorry for those commies when we take to the sky. We may have a shit for size army, but we got some of the best soldiers and pilots in the world_." He crossed his arms and grinned. "_And I'm living proof of that. EVA pilot extraordinaire_."

"_Uh I don't think those two over there would agree with you_." Elly noted, pointing out two people who didn't seem all that impressed.

"_Who_? _Ivana and Rei_?" Zack asked as he turned in the direction Elly pointed out, only to see two people, a young man and woman he didn't recognize. But as he really looked at them, they began to look more and more familiar to him. "_Oh just fabulous_."

"_Greetings Mr. Harper_," the young man formerly greeted as he and his companion walked up to Zack and Elly. "_I'm surprised you're actually here_," the man spoke up. He was similar in height to Zack, save a little stockier than the Sixth Child. And unlike Zack, this man was of more Asian descent judging by his hair and facial features. "_You actually cut the custard after all to be an EVA pilot_," he went on speaking in a calm yet serious tone.

"_Well, well, well_," Zack replied in a sarcastic tone. "_If it ain't Mr. Jon Dang, my former competition. Did you finally come to congratulate me after I so owned you in the tryouts to become an EVA pilot_?"

"_Not quite_," Jon continued. "_You won by technicality if I recall. We're in the air force and we're heading the Canadian squadron's attack against the Russian air force if you must know_." He sighed before countering Zack's sarcastic tone. "_Though you have my sympathy for what I hear you will be facing. I heard the target has a rather...interesting taste in killing and such._"

"_Very funny_." Zack then turned his attention to the woman accompanying Jon. "_And what's she doing here_?"

"_What am I doing here_?" the woman shot back. Much like Jon, she was also of Asian descent, being almost as tall as Zack was, but far slender. "_If you must know, you insincere bastard, I'm Jon's wingman_."

"_I'm an insincere bastard_?" Zack asked, rather confused. "_Since when did you get that impression Kristina_?"

"Let's see," Kristina went on, "_we were about to become a couple, but it never happened because you had to leave for Japan. Then you promised me you'd come back one day_." She then pointed at Elly. "_And now I see you strutting around with some girl, one whom would more fit to appear in one of those more risqué magazines_."

"_You got a problem with me_?" Elly jumped in. "_Obviously you didn't read the message clearly. He said he'd come back, not hook up with you_."

"_Stay out of this_," Kristina sharply responded to Elly. Turning her attention back to Zack, she continued her rant. "_You still broke my heart. Something I will not forgive for a long time_!" Kris growled in anger, her right foot suddenly plowing into the groin of Zack Harper. The sudden force of the attack dropped him like a rock. The end result was a pathetic sight to behold, as Zack clutched his sensitive area from a kick derived out of anger and jealousy. Kristina then stormed off in a rage.

"_Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned_," Jon muttered quietly. He looked at Elly before saying "_I apologize for her behaviour, but he did have that coming. Personally, I hope that's the only injury he sustains today. I wish you both the best_." With a salute, he walked back toward the fighter jets to prepare for battle.

Elly then turned to helping her wounded boyfriend get back to his feet after the brutal sacking he just received.

"_You just don't catch any breaks do you_?"

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From what appeared to be a command center, five mysterious beings (okay not so mysterious anymore) observed their forces readying themselves for battle.

"So, do you think he'll really pull it off?" the tall one asked as he stared at the many screens the command center offered.

"He is outnumbered easily," the being with a female voice replied. "That and those kids won't be fooled by the same tricks twice. He'll have to double if not triple his efforts out there. Even with his perfect sync ratio he can still fail. "If Russia falls though, which it probably will, the country's infrastructure will face likely decimation, and our entire investment in using them as a base to initiate 4th Impact will be up in smoke."

"But hey, if he does pull it off we'll get our 4th Impact and our plans will go way ahead of schedule!" the smallest one put in with an excited tone. "That would be so awesome!"

"And what of the nations of Iran, North Korea, and the other nations that shall assist us?" the tall one wondered. "What are we to do with them once they serve their purpose? Will they still be of any use to us?"

"Oh yes they will," the leader answered. "They will be loaded with anger and resentment once they are punished by the rest of the world. They won't hesitate to turn to us once they feel SEELE has let them down."

"But what of Calamousill?" the figure with an elderly man's voice wondered. "What will be his purpose?"

"His purpose is to lie in wait until he is needed," the figure with a young man's voice answered. "He knows that he shall assist if he needs to." His thoughts then took a different turn. "Is everything ready just in case he fails?"

"Yes," the elderly one replied. With a wave of his hand, a new screen appeared in front of them. It appeared to be progress reports on all the registered EVA pilots. The screen read as followed:

REI AYANAMI: DATA SUCCESSFULLY COPIED

ASUKA SOHRYU: DATA SUCCESSFULLY COPIED

SHINJI IKARI: DATA SUCCESSFULLY COPIED

TOJI SUZAHARA: DATA 55 COMPLETE

KAOWRU NAGISA: DATA SUCCESSFULLY COPIED

IVANA KHARLAMOV: DATA 85 COMPLETE

ZACKARY HARPER: DATA 73 COMPLETE

ELLEN SIMPSON: DATA 69 COMPLETE

MANA KIRISHIMA: DATA SUCCESSFULLY COPIED

HIKARI HORAKI: DATA 0 COMPLETE

VLADIMIR TOPOLOV: DATA 60 COMPLETE

"At the very least, we shall get some sufficient data," the elderly one finished. "Whether Vladimir succeeds or fails, we win in the end."

"Indeed," the young man replied. "All that matters is that WE win."

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Central Lambda

Misato turned on the com for the purpose of communicating with the pilots. "Are you four ready?"

"Yes ma'am!" the four pilots replied.

"Good," Misato went on. "I'm going to go over the strategy with you one more time quickly. Ivana, you're playing the striker position and you'll have your melee weapons along with an array of Gatling guns. You'll be the first one to engage the enemies. Rei, you're in midfield. You'll have melee weapons along with rocket launchers and sniper rifles. Elly, you're the fullback and you'll have immediate access to all the weapons and along with Rei, you'll relay weapons to Ivana when/if she needs them. Zack, you are the goalkeeper. Defend NERV Headquarters at all costs." She paused for a moment so as the pilots could let the information sink in. "And obviously if you spot Unit 10, notify us immediately so we can fortify your abandoned posts when you go after him. Any questions?"

"Can we go out for a steak dinner when this is all said and done?" Zack asked. Typical of him to ask such a question.

"Zack, that is a really ridiculous question," Misato answered. "But if such a place is still standing, AND you are able to defeat Unit 10 with all of you still alive, I'll have no choice but to treat you four to a steak dinner." Once she saw the Canadian pump his fist with delight, she continued, "But let that be an incentive to watch out for your teammates on the battlefield. I want to see you all back in here safe and sound. Are you four ready?"

"Unit 00 ready," Rei replied.

"Unit 04 combat ready," Ivana answered.

"Unit 05 jacked up and good to go!" Zack responded.

"Unit 06 ready to kick ass!" Elly said.

She then turned her attention to Commanders Ikari and Henkel. "Well Commander Ikari, care for the honours?" she asked with confidence beaming from her face.

Gendo mirrored Misato's smile. Looking at the pilots on screen, he said his piece. "Give the enemy no quarter, and show Unit 10's pilot no mercy. Go."

And with his given order, the EVAs were launched from deep below the earth and thrust towards the surface, ready to do battle.

Once Ivana hit the surface, she quickly gave herself a view of what was going on. As expected, she was launched right into the middle of a war zone. Immediately she had to raise her AT Field to block some incoming mortar shells. Moving quickly, she picked up the Gatling gun that was waiting for her and immediately opened fire on the Russian mortar tanks that were not far ahead. The bullets ripped apart the ground, from moving over a thousand miles per hour but for the most part Ivana's shots were able to hit their intended targets. The explosions served to tell Ivana that they hit home and to keep moving onto the other ones.

"Heads up Unit 04!" someone yelled into the com. Unit 04's alarm went off. Ivana quickly identified the source of the alarm as incoming missiles aimed straight for her.

'That didn't take long,' she told herself. Quickly dropping the Gatling gun, she pulled out her prog knife and knifed the first missile cleanly, its explosion doing no damage. Three more approached. Sticking her hands out while protected by her AT Field, she deflected the next two missiles. And finally in spectacular fashion, she threw her knife at the fourth missile. It exploded without reaching its target. Picking up a progressive sword, she charged towards the next line of enemy machinery.

Rei on the other hand, found herself dealing with an Eastern Front attack by a huge battalion of tanks and armed Hummers. Since the French had the Western Front under control (so Rei hoped), she could handle East Berlin and relay weapons whenever Elly contacted her. This arsenal facing her down was fierce, and she constantly found herself being slowed up by vicious assaults due to her known unit's size and capabilities. To Rei this was a trivial matter. She would not let Shinji and Asuka's deaths be in vain no matter what. Elevating her AT Field to its maximum power, and armed with a prog sword, she continued to press forward. Using her sword, she slashed away with swiftness and precision.

Once Rei was identified as the primary target of the attack, she found herself being bombarded further, almost stopping her in her tracks. Acting quickly, she called into her com, "Backup!" She then dug in and prepared for some sort of assistance while she held her ground. Within a minute, it came in the form of the Canadian Air Forces Air Command with a full squadron in tow. Using laser guided precision, the jets bombed their targets, enabling Rei to pick back up and press on with her attack. This feeling felt bizarre to her, this desire for vengeance, but she placed that thought in the back of her mind and prepared for the next attack.

Elly found herself in another predicament. Since Rei had to guard the Eastern front, she was left to some degree handling the center which risked hindering the weapons relay system. And the position she was dealing with played their plans perfectly. Stranded alone out there, it would only be a matter of time until Ivana ran out of ammunition and nowhere to turn. Thankfully she was equipped with heavy armour, so even without her AT Field at times, she'd be able to withstand to a good extent many of the attacks aimed her way. And in no time at all, Ivana had come on the com requesting a reload of ammunition.

Elly quickly put in a contact to Rei, "Rei time to relay!"

The reply came in quickly, and it delivered news Elly didn't like. "I cannot. Too hard pressed down here."

"Shit!" Elly swore out loud. She quickly tuned into the command center, "Misato! Ivy needs a reload! I'm gonna go there myself!"

"Gotcha!" was Misato's reply. "We'll get the Americans to cover you from the air. Just ignore the explosions and book it! That and we'll inform Zack you're dropping your post. Now go!"

Grabbing the ammunition packs, Elly placed them under one arm of Unit 06, and picked up a sword with the other and charged north. Immediately, she was being fired upon by enemy forces trying to keep up with her. And as she pressed onwards, she could see her enemies being bombed from the air. 'Good, the Americans are fending off the evildoers for me.'

Zack on the final hand seemed to be having a blast. Armed with two large machine guns, he was ripping through any and all targets that got past the Allied Forces and targeted NERV HQ.

"Come here you little communist piggies, I got candy for you!" he taunted the enemy combatants. "Lead flavoured candy that is! Hahahahahaha!" Zack laughed as his bullets tore into the enemies that dared to assault NERV Headquarters. But as this battle raged on and on, there was still no sign of Unit 10 anywhere to be seen. If Zack knew any better, the bastard was probably planning his grand entrance just like he did last time. Only this time, he wouldn't get his element of surprise.

"Cut the chatter Casanova," Misato ordered over the com. "Heavy tanks approaching from the north. Stop them!"

"With pleasure." Putting the guns down, Zack went over to his cache to select the rocket launcher, with the intent of blowing up the incoming targets. Once locked on, he would fire with the system guidance guaranteeing a direct hit. One down, many more to go. Reload and repeat.

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NERV HQ – Central Lambda

"So far, so good," Misato said quietly as the battle continued on. From her perspective, everything seemed like it was under control. The Allied Forces were providing a solid resistance against the invading Russians, even though they were getting help from Iran and North Korea of all people. And at the same time, incursions had begun into Russia on all sides by the Allies, with the intent of taking out the political regime.

Looking at it from the bigger picture, something still didn't feel right. And as she watched the commanders' converse and give commands, she could tell that they were thinking the same thing. This was still way too good to be true. But there was still the main underlying problem: Evangelion Unit 10. And similar to last time he would likely appear with the element of surprise on his side.

Just in case, there were systems set up all over the place and even in space designed to specifically locate Unit 10 should it appear in German airspace or even on the ground. As assuring at it was, it wouldn't assure Misato as it only meant a path of death and destruction would appear in its wake.

"Okay Unit 06, back to your post on the double!" Misato called into the com. At her order, Unit 06 piloted by Elly, began its trek back to the position it had to abandon earlier. As Unit 06 raged back, it seemed like eventually the battle would have been over if they didn't have to worry about Unit 10…

"Commander, we have a problem!" a technician reported. "We've spotted a flying object with patterns matching that of Unit 10!"

"What? Whereabouts?" Commander Henkel demanded to know.

"According to the coordinates, it's right above Unit 06 and is now descending at high speed!" the technician answered.

"ELLY HEADS UP!" Misato yelled into the com. "UNIT 10'S RIGHT ABOVE YOU!!!"

"What? What's above me?" Elly could barely register whatever Misato just shrieked into the com. Suddenly her alarms went off. Something was coming straight for her from above. Without a second's hesitation she quickly dived out of the way as something impacted where she was just standing not even a second ago.

Whatever impacted the ground kicked up a ton of dust, but Elly could still make out a silhouette. It was humanoid shaped object, which right away Elly knew it was Unit 10. He was here. Vladimir Topolov. As it stood up, it emerged from the dust, revealing its pitch black armour and the large scythe held in its right hand.

And then, to make matters scarier, something tuned into her com. She recognized the face right away. And with his pale face and graying hair, he looked at her with a wicked grin. "Well, looks like you'll be my first victim of today. And you look delicious!"

Elly was frightened, but she stood her ground. "So you finally showed up, you're late you know."

"It's never too late to feed," he replied devilishly. He pointed the scythe at her. "I've been waiting seven days for this moment. The moment where I can squeeze the life out of you and your friends."

"I only got one thing to say," Elly countered. "Go for it." She readied her blade in preparation for his attack.

"Oh I will!" Unit 10 lunged at Elly, shifting Unit 10's grasp on the scythe to the end, giving Vladimir maximum reach. He proceeded to take large, wild swings at her chest level. To his rage, Unit 06 kept stepping out of his way dodging his attacks. Bringing the scythe in closer, he lunged at her even faster and attempted an overhead cleave.

Elly used this chance to sidestep and dodged the scythe as it plunged into the earth, missing its target. Quickly using her advantage she then charged at him, landing an elbow into Unit 10's head before scurrying behind Unit 10.

"Arrgh!" Vladimir growled from being hit. He turned around and readied himself again. "You got lucky you little bitch! But your luck has run out!" Right as he was about to lunge at her again, something impacted him from behind knocking Unit 10 flat on its face. Quickly he rolled out of the way, right as Unit 06's sword would have impaled it and quickly got back to his feet. Looking over to his left, he saw a green EVA holding a rocket launcher.

"Ha!" Zack called into the com. "Flanked you bitch!"

"So you think this is all fun and games don't you?" Vladimir asked him. Looking past Elly, he could see that Unit 04 was approaching and his sensors indicated Unit 00 was approaching from behind. "You know, I was hoping we could have a little warm-up before the real rumble began. But you squandered that chance!"

"Ah well, I wanted to skip the warm-up anyways," Elly sighed. "So are you ready to be serious, or can we pick you apart?"

"Oh please, I'll be the ones picking you apart!" Vladimir roared. He twirled his scythe around a few times before resuming his combat stance, ready to take them all on. "Now you'll know what it's like… TO CHALLENGE A GOD!!!"

Without warning, Unit 10 leaped into the air, and began to spin at a rapid pace. Strangely, Unit 10 was engulfed in a black and orange aura "Take this!" he yelled. "A.T.… RINGS OF HELL!" As he continued to spin, he suddenly began to hurtle numerous rings of energy at his opponents.

"Look out!" Ivana yelled as she frantically dodged the rings. She knew exactly what this was capable of. A.T. Fields had no defense against an attack like this. As she dodged the rings, she quickly looked over to make sure the others were able to dodge the assault. To her avail, they emerged unharmed but rather startled.

"Holy guacamole!" Zack called out. He was really caught by surprise. "How the hell did he do that?"

"That's just a sample of my power!" Vladimir swung his scythe at Zack. Zack quickly dodged the curved blade and tried to lock his blade down using his sword. But Vladimir's power was much greater than Zack had predicted. Vladimir managed to force Zack's sword back up and then kicked him in the chest.

Quickly turning, Rei was now approaching. So now he turned his attention to her, sparing Zack from a second attack. As he went to take a swing at her, she dodged his attack. As he brought the scythe down, Rei stepped back and did something he didn't expect. She then lunged at him. Caught by surprise, Vladimir didn't have time to bring his scythe back up. Unit 00 leaped up and kneed Unit 10 right in the face, bringing them both down to terra firma. Seeing her chance, Rei brought Unit 00's hands around Unit 10's neck in an attempt to strangle Vladimir.

As he was now pinned down by Rei, he could see the anger, the malice on her face. For a moment, Vladimir himself was frightened. Frightened to see someone else show the same anger he tended to show his victims. But unlike those weak fools, he was NOT going to die in pathetic fashion.

"You got him Rei!" Elly cheered. "Finish him!" This joy was only short lived. Suddenly, Unit 00 was thrown off of Unit 10 abruptly, with Unit 10 having a black aura surrounding him.

"Think it would be that easy? You really are fools if you think so!" Vladimir declared. "I am way more powerful than you can imagine. Sure you may have learned a few tricks, but you're still no match for me!" He readied himself once more. "So which one of you shall oppose me first?"

"Fuck you," Elly shot back. "We'll attack you at the same time. We ain't gonna let you bully on someone."

"He raises a point Elly," Ivana put in. "His movements are too unpredictable for a gang attack."

"Hence why I'm going in!" Zack suddenly threw Unit 05 at Unit 10. Bringing out his sword, he prepared to rain down on Vladimir. Vladimir in defense held up his scythe, repelling all of Zack's slashes with relative ease. But with a quick movement of his feet, Zack managed to slew foot Vladimir, forcing the Russian to stumble and eventually fall down to one knee. Zack then rained down some more, before using his higher ground to lock Vladimir's scythe down! "Now Rei!"

Seeing the chance, Rei now attacked from behind, hoping to get a stab right at the entry plug and end this battle. But it was all in vain. Vladimir used Zack's inertia to suddenly 'collapse' and let Unit 05 fall towards him. He then flipped Unit 05 over his head and it collided with Unit 00, knocking them both down.

"You're next bitch!" Vladimir suddenly attacked Elly. She didn't have enough time to get away from the impending attack. To Elly's horror, not only was the inside curve of the blade sharp, but the outer curve was too. There was no escape! Vladimir's scythe carved deep into her EVA's armour, getting a yelp of pain from its pilot. Just then Vladimir had to turn his attention to Ivana, who quickly came to Elly's aid in response, saving Elly from what may have finished her off.

Elly clutched her chest in pain. Her whole chest felt as if someone ran a match along the surface of her skin. In response, her EVA dropped to a knee, reflecting the pain Elly was in. "Oh my god… oh my god… it burns… owww…" she muttered through pants of pain.

Was Vladimir just too powerful?

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"Oh my god, is she alright?" Misato demanded to know.

"The blade penetrated right through the A-Type armour and scraped the surface of the main plate," the main technician reported. "Vitals have accelerated due to physical and mental distress, but the pilot is alright."

"Elly get up!" Misato ordered. "If you can't fight, back off and take cover!"

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"I'm far from beaten!" Elly replied, though under great stress. "I'll die before I run!" Looking ahead, she saw Vladimir engaging both Zack and Ivana, with Rei waiting patiently for her chance to step in. The pain was slowly turning to anger in the Australian's eyes. She didn't care what it took. Vladimir would be brought down this day.

Vladimir had managed to kick Ivana off her feet and was now focusing on Zack and Rei. "You fools just know this is entertainment for me right?" he asked as he shoved Zack out of the way. "The longer this takes, the more I want to drink your blood!" Catching Rei's hand with his free hand, he delivered a sharp kick to Unit 00's head, stunning the EVA and its pilot before taking a swing at the chest, wounding the EVA and Rei.

"No! Rei!" Zack called out as he quickly tried to get to the fallen EVA.

"This is where YOU die!" Vladimir revealed the spear end of his scythe, ready to impale Rei right in the chest, which would likely kill her. Right as he was about to bring the blade down, a sharp coursed through his entire left arm. "Ahhhh! What the fuck?" Looking at Unit 10's left arm, there was a prog knife embedded blade deep. Before he saw what came next, he was suddenly slashed again in the waist area from his left side across, and then kicked in the right side of the head, which made enough impact to knock him over. Quickly regaining his feet, he could feel his whole body convulsing in pain. Looking ahead, he theorized that damned bikini model pilot must've caught him by surprise.

"Well you don't look so tough anymore!" Zack taunted. "A few good hits and you're halfway gone." He waved his index finger tauntingly. "We figured out your secret. We know your sync ratio is always 100 percent. So you feel every little bit of pain. Hurts doesn't it?"

"Damn you!" Vladimir cursed. "I will not be beaten this day!" He gave out a great scream of rage. Waves of energy were emitted on all sides from Unit 10. And it became encased in a black aura. He gave out a chuckle. "You see… I cannot be defeated in battle. I have the power of a god at my command." Raising his right hand, the others could see a mark of some sorts burning through his plugsuit and making itself visible for all to see. It was a mark consisting of three sixes in a triangle shape. Notably, one of the sixes was glowing a dull red.

"Holy Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and all three Wise Men," Zack said in shock at the sight seen on Vladimir's hand. "Is that what I think it is?"

"I would expect no less," Ivana replied, covering herself from the waves of energy. "He really has allied himself with evil. That would explain his facial features."

"He has sold his soul to the devil for the sake of power," Rei put in. "That mark must be what is making him so powerful."

"I AM POWERFUL! I'M A GOD!" Vladimir roared as he flew right at the EVAs, his aura strong enough to blow them all to the wayside. Seeing that they were all knocked over, he quickly selected one of them to attack. And in this case he chose Rei as his first victim. Charging at her with more ferocity than ever before, he swung the scythe like a man on roid rage. Rei literally had no chance. She had been taught various maneuvers on how to dodge normal sped slashes, this was nothing compared to what she had expected. She took a slash right along her left shoulder, stunning her for what was a near miss as his scythe came back and sliced her from that should down to her waist on the right side. Thankfully, the scythe didn't penetrate that deep, but Rei was down and out in great pain.

Zack quickly stepped on the ball, leaping high in the air to try and use the height advantage to his advantage. He forced Vladimir and went on the attack himself. At the best, he would succeed in drawing away Vladimir's attention away from Rei. But it didn't do that much for himself as he was quickly countered as Vladimir then forced his sword away and then elbowed him in the chest. To Zack's horror Vladimir circled around him and impaled him in the back with the spear end, crippling the pilot and bringing him to his knees.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" Vladimir taunted Zack, kicking Unit 05 in the head and knocking the green EVA down. "All that taunting and no fight to back it up. You're not worth sparing!" Tucking away the spear, preferring to use the scythe blade, he then noticed Units 04 and 06 now on their way, with pistols drawn. Vladimir raised his AT Field and easily blocked the bullets.

The guns had served their purpose. Vladimir's attention was drawn away from the wounded EVAs. "Alright Elly, help me draw him away, then get the others to safety," Ivana commanded.

"What about you?" Elly inquired.

"I'll be fine," Ivana smiled. "It doesn't matter how powerful he is, I can handle him. He was my bitch at one time. Come we don't have much time." She then ran off with Elly in pursuit.

Elly saw Ivana extend her hand towards her while they ran, and it made sense immediately. Elly handed Ivana her sword giving Ivana a second weapon to combat Vladimir with while she would pull Units 05 and 00 out of the way. Taking an arm of each EVA, Elly mustered with all of her Unit's strength to pull the two downed EVAs away from the battlefield. Looking around, it had seemed most of the enemy and Allied forces were indeed long cleared out over the span of the hours of the battle, though the remains of a battle once there was clear. Looking ahead, she saw her friend Ivana locking horns with Unit 10. They appeared even for now, but how long would that last?

"Don't you remember what happened last time you were left alone?" Vladimir asked. "I nearly annihilated you!"

"You had surprise that time. This time you don't," Ivana countered. Using her dual progressive swords, she continued to rain away at him. "And I will not allow you to get away with the thousands if not millions of people murdered by your hand."

"Progression through pain and bloodshed," Vladimir replied as they continued to exchange blows. "It's the way of life. The weak die and the strong survive!" he grunted as he shoved Ivana off him. "Take this!" With one final yell, he slammed the scythe into the ground, kicking up a shockwave of energy that propelled right at Ivana.

Ivana didn't predict this attack either. She tried to raise her AT Field desperately, but it was too late. The energy wave slammed into her and propelled her hundreds of feet away, all but knocking her out cold.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Vladimir laughed out loud. "Again you oppose me, again you fall!" He then turned to face Unit 06 in the distance. "And don't think I forgot about you, you filthy bitch! YOU'RE NEXT! I'LL MAKE SURE YOU DIE FIRST!"

Elly was now worried. She was now all alone out there. Zack and Rei too wounded to stand back up, and Ivana just defeated. She had no chance in her own opinion, but could she run away? Holding a prog sword in her hand that had belonged to Zack, she wasn't sure what to do, whether to choose fight or flight.

As Vladimir ran across the battlefield to take out Elly, something struck the ground right in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks. "Huh? What the hell?" Looking up, he saw two aircraft carriers which held two more Evangelions. "What's going on here?"

Someone else tuned into the com. Elly quickly identified the face as her classmate and teammate, Hikari Horaki! "Damn mate, what are ya doing here?" she quickly asked.

"Sorry, we couldn't stay put any longer," Hikari answered as Units 08 and 03 piloted by Toji Suzahara hit the ground. "Commander Fuyutski agreed with us and decided to intervene."

"We came at a good time from the looks of it," said Toji looking at the wounded EVAs scattered around. Noting Unit 10, Toji asked, "Is he as tough as they say?"

"Oh he is," Elly answered. "Be careful. He's way more powerful than a normal EVA." She resumed her stance. "He's taken some damage, but he's still proving to be very powerful."

"Powerful, yes. Invincible, hell no!" Toji roared as he held a progressive ax in hand. Hikari was also ready, holding a spear in hand. "And now he's got two more to deal with!"

"The more, the merrier!" Vladimir chuckled. "I've disposed of your friends rather easily, and I'll do the same to you two!" He lunged right at the two new combatants. Hikari and Toji quickly stepped aside and they engaged him from both sides. Vladimir swung his scythe so that he could force Hikari's staff down and at the same time hook it around so that he could force Toji to back off. But Hikari was stopped for only a moment, as she thrust the staff forward. Catching it with his left hand, Vladimir pulled the staff and Unit 08 in with it, only to kick Hikari back forcing the staff out of her hand. Hikari quickly pulled out her prog knife and threw it at Vladimir, catching him right in the shoulder.

"Argh!" he growled as he went to pull the knife out. And as he did he was left completely open to Unit 06. With his scythe at his side, and not in front of him. He was powerless as Unit 06 stabbed Vladimir right in the chest, just below the core. Quickly swinging the scythe around, he managed to make Elly back off, but not before leaving her sword in Unit 10's lower chest. Toji quickly came across, swinging the ax once which Vladimir dodged, but not the second time which caught him in the upper chest leaving an incision in Unit 10's chest plate before Vladimir kicked Unit 03 away.

Vladimir staggered back and away, before pulling out the knife and the sword. He felt as if someone was trying to rip his innards out. How could he be losing? He was the most powerful human on the planet! And yet he was losing to these… these inferior beings! His sync ratio with Unit 10 was supposed to be perfect. He was supposed to have perfect control and have its full potential at his command, and yet he was losing!

Elly called out to Vladimir, "Give up Vladimir. You're wounded and pretty much defeated. Surrender and you will be spared."

Vladimir managed a laugh despite his pain. "You must really be a stupid girl with pink hair if you earnestly believe I will surrender."

Hikari countered, "Your war effort is a failure Vladimir. I bet the Allies have been able to push back your army, and that other allied forces will invade Russia and topple that regime you set up. Pathetic, how someone who was so powerful fell so fast." She suppressed the giggle that nearly escaped her mouth.

"Whatever," Vladimir grumbled. "How long will it take you morons to realize that I don't give a shit about what happens to Russia? That barren land of ice can go to hell for all I care. I am mighty, Russia is not. It will fall, but I will not!"

Toji made his point. "We've avenged our friends' death today, with your defeat. You've got nothing left to fight on!"

"As if…" Vladimir muttered. "I am unbeatable!" He concentrated deep within, and a black aura once more surrounded Unit 10. "I will crush you all, and toss your EVAs into the wind, and I will feast on your blood!" He licked his lips with delight. "My pain simply tells me I need to fight harder!"

"More like it's telling you we're kicking your ass," Elly countered. "If you got any fight left in that EVA, let's see it! Part of me would like to kill you for what you've done!"

"If anyone's doing the killing, IT WILL BE ME!" Vladimir screamed. "Be consumed by the darkness!" Raising his arms out, the aura expanded like a shockwave, decimating all in its path.

"Ahhhh" Hikari screamed as she tried to defend herself. "It's too powerful… ahhhh!" she got picked up and tossed into the wayside, along with Units 03 and 06."

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"OH NO THEY'RE ALL DOWN!" Misato freaked out.

"We have no choice," Henkel replied. "We evacuate now! Call all forces in to assault Unit 10."

"And if that fails?" Misato asked as she prepared to evacuate with the others. She could hear the emergency evacuation order being sounded over the intercom.

"Then we lose."

"We can't leave them out there!" Misato shot back. "We need to help them!"

Gendo grabbed her arm. "We have to leave Major! There is nothing we can do for them now! They made the choice to fight! It would be a dishonour to them if we don't get out of here while we can!"

Without much argument to be made, Misato followed Gendo towards the exit to NERV HQ.

"Commanders, we're getting contact from Unit 00! Rei is still conscious!" Maya called out.

Joachim halted for a moment to see the screen. Yes, Rei was conscious once more. If she could make it back to her feet and resume fighting, then there might still be hope. "Abort the evacuation, but be prepared to leave just in case." At his command, the alarms went dead, and the technicians made their way back to their posts.

'Come on Rei, please get up…' Misato pleaded.

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Rei slowly made her way back to a normal state of mind. Having been dazed earlier from Vladimir's assaults, she felt the haziness wearing off in her mind. She willed Unit 00 over to see Unit 10 standing tall while all her comrades had fallen. They had failed. Vladimir… had won.

'I will not accept that,' Rei told herself as she tried to get back up. 'I must not let Shinji down. I promised them…' Drawing on willpower, she raised Unit 00 to its feet, although it had trouble standing.

"Oh look, you're back!" Vladimir quickly taunted her. "You missed quite a bit I might mention. I absolutely clobbered your friends!"

"I will not let you… harm them anymore…" Rei panted. "You will pay for what you have done… you will not get away with… killing Shinji and Asuka…"

"Oh this is about them?" he asked with mock surprise. "Wow, I thought you'd be long over those pathetic fools. I killed them like they were flies buzzing around my head!"

"Do not disrespect them," Rei muttered. 'This man… no he is not a man… he really is a monster; one that thrives on death and suffering. The death and suffering that haunts people's souls. Why does he make people suffer? And why do I feel this unsettling irritation in my chest?

_These are the feelings you've always had, but never understood_

'Who said that?' she asked, her eyes darting back and forth as she searched for the source of the voice.

_I've always been here, watching over you. I can see into your heart, your mind, and your soul. I can feel that they're full of confusion as to who you are and what you can and can't do._

'What I… can't do?' Rei was confused.

_Do you know what its truly like to feel happy, to feel sad, to feel angry? And to have these feelings not just because you want to have these feelings, but because they just happen?_

'I do not understand.'

_Knowing all you have been through, I don't expect you to understand, but that's okay. That's why I'm here. To help you understand. That unsettling irritation, that is because deep down, past your consciousness, you are angry._

'Angry, the feeling of hateful resentment.'

_Yes. But to know what this feeling is and to feel what these emotions are before, you must recognize them; to naturally let these feelings flow and to act on these feelings. That is what it means to be truly human._

'To be human… not an Angel… just like Ikari-kun.'

_Is that what you truly want? If you so desire, I can show you what all these feelings are and what they mean. It's the least I can do for you, since your presence has helped curb my own loneliness, and since you may never live to have these feelings when you grow older._

'You would show me these feelings?'

_Just open your mind let me do the rest. Then use your newfound feelings to fuel your resolve… and avenge your family._

While still remaining focused on Vladimir, everything felt like it suddenly slowed as she lowered the barriers of her mind. Keeling over, she shuddered violently as a sudden rush of knowledge poured into her mind.

A blood curling scream echoed through the intercoms as she held her head in agony. All those who were present watched Unit 00 in shock and surprise as Rei continued to suffer from some unknown force.

She could see, feel, and hear every feeling and emotion, and it was all coming in at once.

Joy

Sorrow

Happiness

Anger

Excitement

Depression

Optimism

Pessimism

Generosity

Selfishness

Courageous

Greediness

Love

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"Oh my god, Rei's brainwaves are going frantic!" Maya cried out in shock.

"What's causing it? A psychic attack?" Ritsuko wanted to know.

"Source unknown, but something is entering Rei's mind, and its making Rei's brainwaves go way off the handle!" Maya called back. Looking at the screens, Rei's brainwaves were indeed going frantic. And looking at Unit 00 on screen, it was clutching its head in agony.

"Can we shut down Unit 00?" Gendo asked.

"No can do, it's not responding! It's acting on it's own!" another technician answered.

"Wait a minute…" Ritsuko caught a glimpse of Rei's sync ratio. It had been floating in the low sixties, but was now picking up speed. "Rei's sync ratio is growing! It's over a hundred and thirty; no… it's still growing!"

'Come on Rei! Hang in there!' Misato silently begged of her charge. But then it hit her. Was Rei going through a transformation like Shinji and Asuka once had? "Hey wait, she could be transforming!"

Then it hit Ritsuko. Misato had to be right. Why else would her sync be going up like this? They could only hope that this hunch was the case.

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Rei continued to scream in agony. The pain was way too much to bear. Not only that, she felt as if her shoulder blades wanted to rip right out of her back. On the outside, little did she know that her EVA was being consumed by a golden aura, and that it began to slowly rise into the air.

Vladimir on the other hand had no clue what was going on. Suddenly from out of nowhere, that girl's scream began to echo throughout the com, nearly deafening the Russian himself. That and what really freaked him out, was that the EVA this girl was piloting began to glow with that gold aura and was floating in the air.

'I have to bear this… for their sake! I have to!' Rei silently reminded herself as to why she bore this pain. However, something did feel different. While she felt herself being in so much pain, she felt her connection to the EVA getting stronger… stronger than ever before! But a part of her told her she couldn't take this any longer, and with one final scream, she gave over what was left of her resistance and left her fate in the hands of the unknown voice and the EVA.

Vladimir was suddenly blinded by a large flash of light, and he literally couldn't see a thing. Having covered his eyes, he would have wished he had left them covered after what he saw lying before him. Unit 00 was floating just above the ground, but with gold spectral wings coming out of its back. Looking at the com, he saw the state of the pilot Rei Ayanami. Her eyes were closed, but he could see her brown hair (with blue streaks) had turned completely blue. Her skin had gone from a normal colour, to what look like an albino skin colour. And when she opened her eyes to stare him down, Vladimir himself was frozen scared by her glaring crimson eyes.

"You should be proud Vladimir Topolov, no one has ever provoked me like you have," Rei spoke quietly.

Vladimir tried to regain his confidence that was just there moments ago. Gripping his scythe tightly, he tried his best, but couldn't find the ability to speak.

Sensing his fear, Rei quickly capitalized on it with her quiet but forceful tone. "Perhaps you are right. You have been toying with us this entire time." Her tone quickly turned angrier and louder. "But guess what! The real fight begins, right now!" Lowering her EVA down to earth, she picked up a sword, and took a stance. Suddenly, she launched herself at Unit 10, using the newly grown wings to maintain flight. Up ahead, Vladimir awaited her attack. Rei decided that for the crimes he had committed, he needed to suffer before he died.

With that thought in mind, she threw her sword right at Vladimir. Although he did block the throw, the impact was so powerful it knocked the scythe right out of his hands. He didn't have time to register another thought, because he felt the full impact of Unit 00's foot right to the chest, launching him into the air.

Not wasting a moment, Rei flew up after Vladimir catching up with Unit 10 quickly. Rei then proceeded to deliver a flurry of punches and kicks, propelling the Russian higher into the air, and too rattled to be able to defend himself. And the worst part was, that with his perfect sync ratio that would not drop under any circumstance, he would have no choice but to feel the impact of every punch and kick and whatnot landed by Unit 00. All of this was topped off by a double-axe handle to his back which launched back towards the earth, hitting the ground with a thunder like impact.

Unit 00 landed on the ground softly in contrast to Unit 10 not far from it. Rei looked at the state of Vladimir on the com. And it was a pathetic sight to behold. This boy, who was not long ago mocking them for lacking the power to defeat him, was now wracked with pain. Now he was in a position where he did not have nearly enough power to defeat her. "Had enough?" Rei asked in a mocking manner.

"Damn you… bitch!" Vladimir replied as he suddenly coughed up blood. "I'll kill you for this…"

"That's all you think about, killing someone who happens to stand in your way," Rei countered. "You've become so consumed by your own desire to kill and murder that it's all you can think about, so you can fill that empty hole in your black heart. And then you ally yourself with evil forces so you can fill that hole. Eventually, that hole will become impossible to fill, as it echoes with the deaths of those you've killed. You'll starve and eventually drive yourself to death." Unit 00 slowly walked towards Unit 10. "But for you, you have forfeited the right to live long enough to experience madness. Like you cast judgment on my brother and friend, I'm casting judgment on you." She reached down and grabbed Unit 10's leg, before tossing the EVA into the dark sky.

It didn't take long for Rei to catch up with her foe. "This is for Shinji!" she yelled Unit 00's foot struck Unit 10 in the back abruptly sending the dazed evildoer in another direction flying face first. Rei quickly got in front of him punching Unit 10 right in the chest, its impact denting Unit 10's chest plate. "That was for Asuka!" Not giving Unit 10 even a moment to recover, Rei got behind Unit 10 with a punch to its lower back, freezing it in its tracks. "This was for everyone you made suffer!" Like it was a football, Unit 00 punted Unit 10 even higher into the air. This time, Rei flew way up high, way past Vladimir and Unit 10, waiting high in the sky to intercept him. "And this… is for me and the anguish you caused me!" With a final scream, Unit 00 began a rapid descent, spinning itself in somersault fashion. At the right moment, Rei brought out Unit 00's leg and as a result, with a heel kick, impacted Unit 10's chest plate which caused the entire plate of armour to spider web with cracks as the black EVA rocketed towards the ground.

Unit 10 crashed into the ground like a megaton bomb going off. Rei landed Unit 00 safely on the ground to observe the sight she had created by her own hands. Unit 10 had hit the ground so hard, that it created an indent in the ground where it landed. Looking at the com, Rei saw that Vladimir was in immense pain, from feeling the entire round of punches and kicks that Rei had administered in a rage.

"Why… why… I had it all…" Vladimir panted, "I was the… the ultimate being…"

"It was because your actions created echoes that affected others," Rei answered for him. "Regardless of whether or not you're the ultimate being, you would one day be held accountable for your actions."

"Damn you…" Vladimir then spat up some more blood, before finally closing his eyes and going silent. Finally, Vladimir Topolov, after all the death and destruction he caused, was finally dead.

Rei took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. It was over. Finally over, at last. Rei Ayanami had ended Vladimir's reign of destruction, terror, death, and chaos. A smile slowly crept onto her face. "I did it, that was for you two," she said with a sigh.

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"Unit 10 has gone completely silent," Maya reported.

"Are you sure?" Gendo asked quickly, not willing to jump the gun.

"I'm sure," Maya answered. "There is no more activity within Unit 10. And the data we have on Unit 10 and the damage it sustained, there is extremely little chance that the pilot's vitals would be able to survive the impacts at a perfect sync."

"Then it's over," Joachim said with a sigh. "Retrieve the EVA's immediately."

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"This isn't over," a man in black clothing said. "Not by a long shot!" He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

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Right as Rei was about to go and see how the others were doing, Unit 10 suddenly began to stir. Looking back towards the fallen EVA, it suddenly began to rise into the sky. Immediately concerned, Rei checked the com to see that Vladimir had somehow been revived, and was coursing in pain.

"What's going on?" Rei wondered as Unit 10, synchronized with Vladimir, acted like it was also in great pain. What horrified Rei though was that much like she had the golden aura with her; Unit 10 was consumed in a devilish black aura. As Rei watched the EVA ascend higher and higher into the sky, she saw black spectral wings extend out of its back, much like Rei had golden wings out of Unit 00's back.

And as it gave off one more flash of evil power, its transformation was complete. Unit 10 looked a little different from before. Its eyes turning crimson red, the armour had cracked all over slightly revealing the EVA's skin, which noticeably had turned black. On the back of its forearms, spikes had appeared, giving Unit 10 an all in all menacing look.

And Vladimir, no longer convulsing in pain, looked at Rei with an evil smirk. He raised his right hand which had the mark with the three sixes that had burned through the plugsuit. One of the sixes originally were glowing, but now two of them were now glowing.

Rei frowned as she took a stance, ready to engage Vladimir again.

"This doesn't look good."

A/N: Oh wow… now Rei is all alone against a transformed Vladimir. Will she be able to hold her own and possibly win the battle? Or will she have to hope for a miracle?

A/O/N: Oh yes, in case you haven't checked it out, I've begun my rewrite of this story from at least Chapters 1-45. That and check out the poll on my forum too when you have time.

Until 75, be cool!


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